Visions of the Mystic Moon
by Mizuki1988
Summary: When Van decided to travel to the Mystic Moon, he had no way of knowing that his journey would alter not only Hitomi's life, but Yukari's as well. HitomiVan, YukariDilandau.
1. Prologue

* * *

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

_by Kiki Smith_

* * *

Prologue

"Amano-senpai?" asked a nervous voice from behind him. He knew who it belonged to, but even if he wanted to turn around he couldn't. He was too shell-shocked to even move.

"Yeah?"

"Did you... I mean, I'm just asking so I can be sure that I haven't lost my mind, but did you just see Hitomi disappear with a guy flying on a large dragon?"

These words were like a healing balm on his nerves. He'd just been wondering the exact same thing.

"Yeah, I did all right."

"Phew!" Uchida said mock-cheerfully, coming to stand next to him. "And here I thought that I was in a desperate need of an emergency visit to a psychiatrist."

Susumu chuckled appreciatively, although the comment didn't really explain anything of what's just happened in front of them. He turned to fully regard the younger girl next to him.

"What are we supposed to do now?" she asked, not looking at him. She appeared to be a bit flushed, watching the sky intently, as if trying to will it to give Kanzaki back. He wondered briefly if that was exactly what she was doing, but he shook that thought away quickly.

"I have no idea" he answered. "I mean, that's not a thing you do every evening, is it?"

It was her turn to laugh. "No, I guess not."

A long silence enveloped them and Susumu shifted from one foot to the other, staring at the stars. His mind was devoid of thoughts apart from one: what the _hell_ has just happened? When Hitomi Kanzaki, a first year and a fellow track runner had asked him to measure her time in an one hundred meters run with her pendant earlier in the evening, it didn't even cross his mind that she would disappear in a column of light with a strange guy on a flying aircraft in the form of a dragon. And when she was only in the middle of the run, at that! If he really wanted to be exactly honest with himself, the fact that she had hugged the strange boy before they disappeared unnerved him a bit. But then again, who wouldn't be annoyed if the girl they wanted to ask out was snatched from them in such a spectacular manner?

The weight of the situation didn't hit him until he heard Uchida's next whispered question.

"My God, what are we going to tell her parents?"

He tried to say something, but nothing smart came to him.

"Do – Do you know where she lives?" he asked eventually, feeling helpless.

"Yeah, I know..." she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you want to do? Barge into the house and tell everybody that she's been kidnapped by aliens?" she joked quietly, but he could see how pale she'd become and he also noticed the panic-stricken expression on her face.

"I don't think that would be a brilliant idea" he said, averting his eyes. "But we have to do _something_. We can't just stand here. What if she's not coming back?"

Uchida stared at him as if that thought had never crossed her mind. It probably hadn't, seeing as her eyes widened even more and her skin turned from pale to deathly gray.

"You can't be serious" she squicked. Susumu drew in a breath, watching her intently. "I mean, she'd never do that" she said confidently after a long, stretched moment. "She'd never leave her parents. Or me, for that matter."

He cleared his throat. "I have no doubt of that. But the fact remains that we have to tell someone about it. Her parents seem like the reasonable idea."

"What about the police?" she asked suddenly and immediately flushed, "Sorry, that's a silly question. They'd just laugh at us."

"Yeah, the police are out of the question" he agreed. "Her parents are our only option. I don't fancy them being worried out of their skulls if Kanzaki were not to return home."

"But" Uchida interrupted, "But...as you said, she might not return home for a while. What's the point of informing her parents?"

Susumu sighed. "Listen, put yourself in their shoes for a moment. If you were a mother whose daughter was not returning home in the evening, what would you prefer: imagining all the possible reasons why she wasn't there, including the fact that she could be lying somewhere beat up, or, you know, raped or, Heaven forbid, even dead? Or would you prefer knowing that she was somewhere with someone she obviously knew and trusted and she seemed happy?"

Uchida grimaced when he reached the part about rape, and the grimace turned into a full-fledged scowl by the time he was finished. She nodded reluctantly.

"Okay, you won. Let's go then" she peeked at her wrist-watch. "The train leaves in ten minutes."

They turned around and headed off to the railway station. But before they even reached the end of the track, Susumu heard the unmistakable sound of running.

And then a familiar voice yelled after them.

* * *

Her feet touched the ground and the light around her disappeared in a blink of an eye. The tight knot in her chest clenched further still, making her breaths even shorter and more erratic than they'd been moments before.

'My God' she thought bleakly, 'I think this is the most devastating feeling I've ever had in my entire life.'

There was no way back. The pendant stayed with Van and she could go and have a walk on her eyelashes and she still would be unable to see him ever again. The small glimmer of hope he'd gave her back on Gaea died a painful death when she felt the familiar smells of a big city. She was completely cut off that strange world, she knew that. She could feel it. This certainity that it was all over and that Van had been wrong and she would never ever see him again made her want to lie down and weep.

Just as she was sinking into her breakdown, she heard voices. Her eyes snapped open and she was schocked to find herself between several Barberry bushes in what appeared to be a very small garden right next to the stands in Kamakita high school. Frowning, she pulled herself up from her knees, absentmindely brushing the dirt off her uniform skirt.

The voices intensified. Hitomi peeked from behind the stands and was surprised to see Yukari and Amano-senpai standing some thirty feet away, arguing.

She stared.

'What on earth are they doing here?' she thought. 'And what am I doing here anyway? I thought I would wake up in the hospital bed with Amano-senpai by my side...'

And then it hit her. If it was dark and both Yukari and Amano were standing in the middle of the track with her school bag on Yukari's shoulder it could only mean that...

'...they just saw me disappear on Escaflowne, clunging to Van.'

She stopped breathing in panic.

A moment passed, but her mind was too empty to create some half plausible plan of action. She stared, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Another second ticked away on her wrist-watch and she snapped out of her trance, gasping for air. Her brain started to work properly again.

Putting together a very short-legged lie she broke into a run.

* * *

"Hey guys! Wait up!"

The first thing Yukari felt when she heard Hitomi's voice was major relief. Then came extreme disbelief, followed closely by panic. Was she seeing things? Had someone put some slow-acting drugs into her bento when she wasn't looking?

Hitomi finally reached them and immediately bent down to catch her breath. Her sandy brown hair gleamed in the lamp-light.

"I'm really sorry!" she moaned, straightening herself. "I know you're angry with me, I know, I'm an awful friend and irresponsible too! I was just moronic enough to lose my watch and then went and got myself caught up in world history juku and stupid Mr Ito!"

The moment prolonged. Yukari exhaled and willed her features into an angry expression.

"Let's hope it never happens again!" she mock-scolded, gave her friend the evil eye and tapped her foot on the ground. Hitomi grimaced.

"I said I was sorry, Yu-ka-ri!"

"Oh, all right, all right. Go on, get your little baby butt into those sweaty bloomers of yours! We're not going to stay here all night, are we, Amano-senpai?"

She sent him what she thought was a meaningful look and watched as his features changed from oblivious to knowing. He nodded fervently at Hitomi, who followed the exchange in puzzlement. Yukari would have hid her face in her hands in embarrassment if she could. The guy had no acting skills! 'Good thing that Hitomi is too airheaded to even notice' she thought gloomly.

The airhead in question took her bag from Yukari, turned on her heel and headed off to find a private place to change.

Amano and Yukari stood in silence for a long moment. It was him who spoke up first.

"She's trying to cover up that whatever happened has just happened" he said confidently.

"You're getting mixed up in your grammar" Yukari dryly observed.

"It's not my fault I've lived half of my life in England."

"I guess not. But you're right. Something's up. Today's Tuesday and she has her world history juku on Wednesdays."

"You know each other well, don't you?" Amano asked, watching Hitomi disappear behind the stands.

"Yeah" Yukari nodded. "We've been best friends since middle school."

"She's never said anything about...you know, dragons and stuff?"

"Only when she was reading another sappy paperback romance" Yukari snickered. "But otherwise no, she's never mentioned anything."

"Well, she wouldn't, would she?" he reasoned. "I doubt anyone would believe her if she did."

He looked at her oddly for a moment.

"What is it?" she prompted, frowning.

"You know... Remember when she fainted yesterday? When she woke up she told me something about a strange world from where you could see the Earth and the Moon... I dismissed it as a dream, but now I'm not so sure anymore."

This revelation startled her. And then it struck her that she also saw something different about Hitomi the day before.

"Well, she did behave oddly after that" she said thoughtfully. "I mean, she was so distanced and...I don't know. Sad, maybe. Daydreaming. Oh, you get the drift."

"Yeah... I mean, I haven't seen her since she woke up, but then in the nurse's room she seemed so unlike herself. You know what I mean. She's always laughing about things. And then she... just was't."

Yukari nodded, knowing what he meant. "So what do you think it means? D'you have a theory or something?"

"I...guess I have one, but I'm not so sure" he said, glancing sideways at her, his brows furrowed. "I think the most logical would be to assume that she somehow transported to that world in her dream... and then the dream became reality, I guess. Although that's a bit farfetched."

"Well, you're way ahead of me" Yukari said, sounding bitter. "I have no bloody idea what this could be about. But I intend to find out."

They fell silent, waiting for Hitomi to come back. When a minute passed and she still wasn't back, Yukari decided to start a conversation.

"Hey, Amano-senpai... Is it true that you're leaving?"

He looked at her with a sad smile."Yeah, unfortunately. My dad and I are going back to England to my mum."

"Your mum lives in England? I never knew that."

"She's English, actually. That's why I'm so good at speaking English."

"It must be wonderful to live somewhere outside of good ol' Japan, away from all this plastic and workaholic complex" Yukari commented.

Amano laughed out loud. "Yeah, it's like a refreshing cold shower. I mean, no more manga!"

Yukari chuckled, but she felt a bit weird inside.

"Where do you like to live best? Here or in England?"

"I dunno, actually. The girls are a bit more stuck up there than here, if you know what I mean."

She saw him smirk and the weirdness increased.

Thankfully, Hitomi chose that moment to reappear.

"Okay! I'm almost ready" she announced happily. "I just need to have a small chat with Yukari here, if you don't mind, Amano-senpai?"

"Nah, go ahead."

Given permission, she proceeded to physically drag Yukari away. When they finally found themselves far enough from Amano so he wouldn't hear what they were saying, Hitomi looked Yukari in the eye.

"Listen. You are a wonderful friend. I think that you're even more than any other girl could hope to be."

"But what - ?"

"Wait, please, just wait. Let _me_ do the bossy part at least once, okay?" Hitomi smiled and it was then when Yukari saw that there were dried smudges on her cheeks and her eyes were red. She instantly became worried.

"I'm going to run now" Hitomi continued. "If I run under thirteen seconds, you're going to tell Amano-senpai how you feel about him."

Yukari's heart did a large flip. "What!" she screeched.

"What I said" Hitomi sniggered. "I know you fancy him. It took me a while to notice it, but I came around, I'm not that stupid after all!"

Yukari was too speechless to even feel the blush that started to rise in her cheeks.

"Come on. We need to go home soon."

Just when she thought that she had handled the situation well, the problems started anew. She was handing the stopper to Amano, certain that Yukari was too busy with being embarrassed to notice a thing. She was wrong.

"Hitomi? Weren't you going to use your pendant?"

Hitomi froze and she felt tears sting her eyes. "I must have left it somewhere. I have no idea where it can be..."

This couldn't be more untrue, but she hoped that her lie wasn't going to fall flat. But by Yukari's suspicious look she supposed that it was extremely close.

The run itself was rather uneventful. She missed the thirteen seconds limit by twenty seven hundredths, just as she suspected. She was simply out of practice and she was still too preoccupied with the fact that only ten minutes ago she'd been saying goodbye to Van, probably for the rest of her life. She felt unreal and out of place and couldn't wait to find herself back at home, in her room and alone with her problems.

Hitomi changed back to her uniform and they quickly – rather too quickly, Hitomi thought – waved goodbye to Amano and went on their way to the railway station. They walked in silence for a long time before Yukari dared to say anything.

"_How_ did you know?" she pleaded. "I did everything so you wouldn't find out!"

Hitomi smiled secretely. "That's a very long story."

"But... Does that mean that you don't like him anymore?" Yukari asked, perplexed. Hitomi bit her lip.

"Well...I hope you don't mind... But I kind of saw right through him."

"What do you mean?"

"Erm...I mean" she stammered. "I don't think he's what he appears to be."

'Well, if that wasn't general, then Merle isn't an annoying pussy-cat' Hitomi thought dryly.

Yukari was quiet for a long moment. But what she said when she spoke up again was very surprising.

"You know... I don't think it would work out between me and him."

They reached the station and went straight to the platform. Hitomi looked at her friend and saw that she was troubling her lower lip absentmindely – something she wasn't doing very often.

"Why do you think so?"

"Well, think about it" Yukari said, sounding determined. "I've only known him through you and only because I'm your 'track manager' or whatever and I've only talked to him when you were present. Today was the first time when I really had a chance to have a conversation with him...And I think it was just a silly crush. I mean, he's still handsome - " here she flushed rosy pink, " - but that doesn't change the fact that even if we somehow got together it would be a long-distance relationship and you know how those usually go..."

Hitomi felt as if someone had just twisted her heart into an unnatural angle.

"Besides" Yukari giggled. "I have this sneaky feeling that he's a bit of a flirt."

'Ring any bells?' Hitomi thought fondly about Allen before turning serious again. "You know, it only means that you're way smarter than me. It took me a lot more time than that to see that."

"I certainly hope so, you silly airheaded romance reader!"

The silence enveloped the two girls once again, but this time it was a comfortable one. Hitomi looked forward at the humming sea and the wet rocks sticking out of the water and gleaming in the moonlight. She watched the waves hit the brick stone and thought back on her short stay in the city of Palas, about the time when she ran all the way from the market to that small sunny bridge where Dilandau's metal claw was about to cut right through Van's body. She could still remember how it felt to push him out of harm's way and then fall down right onto him and look into those eyes...

She peeked up at the moon and stiffled a gasp with difficulty. The moon wasn't as alone as she'd thought. There was a large blueish orb right behind the moon and it looked remarkably like Earth.

'It can't be' Hitomi's mind whispered, but she was too mesmerized to notice. After a long while she looked back at the rocks and almost fell over.

The image was blurred, but there could be no mistakes.

It was Van, with his wings spread, looking angelic and devilishly handsome. He wore his trade-mark red sleeveless shirt and the fabric fluttered in the wind, just like his hair did. Her heart soared.

'So he was right!' she thought happily. 'We really will see each other every time we want to!'

The phantom Van smiled at her and she felt her love for him overwhelm her. This was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. And they haven't even kissed! Yet she felt as if she could conquer the whole world and then some. She felt powerful.

"Hitomi?"

She turned sharply to see Yukari wave at her to hurry up. The train had just arrived. She quickly hopped in after her friend and dared a glance at the rocks. Van had disappeared.

* * *

Yukari peeked suspiciously at the girl sitting beside her. She'd just turned from rather gloomy into ecstatic in the matter of seconds! This was unnatural even for Hitomi. After about a minute of scrutinising the redhead decided that it was high time for an explanation.

"I hope you had enough time to come up with a good excuse, because I'm not going to let go until I believe you."

Hitomi jumped in her seat. "I- I" she stammered. "I don't know what you mean, Yu-ka-ri!"

"Oh, I think you know all right" Yukari drawled. "I want to know how in the name of all that's girly did you manage to disappear in a column of light, hugging this dark-haired hunk and flying off on his dragon and then come back several minutes later claiming that you weren't even there in the first place?"

Hitomi swallowed loudly. "I...I mean..."

Yukari's eyes narrowed. "Well?"

A moment passed with Hitomi looking at Yukari with pleading eyes, but the redhead was true to her word. She wasn't going to let it go. "Cut it out, Hitomi! At least tell me that I'm not on high or something! Tell me if it was real or not!"

"I...Yes, it was real, Yukari" she relented, exhaling. "But please don't ask me any questions. You wouldn't believe me if I told you, anyway."

Yukari regarded the short haired girl with furrowed brows. "Okay. I won't ask any questions. I only want to know if it has something to do with your pendant. Or rather the lack of it."

Hitomi looked at her entwined fingers. "Yes, it does. I...I gave it to someone."

"Oh" said Yukari, feeling stupid. She didn't broach the topic anymore.

The train sped away and Gaea twinkled merrily up from the cloudy sky.

* * *

And...life moved on. Amano went to England and stayed there the whole autumn term. Neither Hitomi nor Yukari really missed him, although Yukari sometimes daydreamed about him during Maths or Science, without really noticing what she was doing. Hitomi never told Yukari what really happened on Gaea, even though Yukari did everything she could imagine to find out. She could see how distraught her friend was, but she could do nothing about it and it literally ate her away bit by bit.

Hitomi refused to use her Tarot cards, which came as a total surprise to their homeroom. The girls couldn't comprehend why she would stop reading them so suddenly and they wanted an explanation. Unfortunately, Hitomi was really tight lipped about the whole issue and Yukari had nothing to add, as she didn't know anything about it herself. The boys, on the other hand, quickly noticed that Hitomi somehow stopped being interested in any of them. She didn't blush, she didn't have crushes, she didn't sigh at photos or posters of handsome singers or actors. It was horribly disconcerting at first, but their classmates quickly got used to it and only Yukari remained, glancing at her best friend with concern every now and then.

The only thing that didn't change about Hitomi was her track performance and the melodrama complex she'd had since she left her mother's womb. But even that was altered. Instead of crying at romance novels she laughed and everytime someone mentioned to her a Prince Charming or a Knight in Shining Armor she had this odd little smirk on her lips and no one seemed to know what to think of it.

And then the winter term came and Amano came back to Japan in all of his handsome glory. Yukari, before she even noticed it, forgot all about what happened before he left and fell head over heels with him all over again. And then the unthinkable happened – Hitomi cornered her and told her to do something about her feelings before it was too late and Amano graduated high school. And she did. Soon she and Amano became a couple and at first she felt happy, but then everything about Amano and her crush on him she found out back during the autumn term came crashing down and she broke up with him, to her classmates' greatest surprise. It was when the girls started pestering her about it she only understood what Hitomi must have felt when she and the others wanted to know what caused her to change. It just wasn't their business and they had no right to butt into her private life. But even though she understood that she still felt a bit hurt that Hitomi thought that something that important to her wasn't Yukari's business. She felt cheated.

The winter term ended and a new year began. And when it finished another one came by and Yukari and Hitomi became senpais. After the crisis their friendship somehow mended and then grew even stronger. And since the times when Hitomi suddenly spaced out and stared off somewhere with a weird expression abtruptly ended and the sandy brown haired girl broke down in front of Yukari, no word was mentioned about Hitomi's otherworldly experience. The topic was closed, although neither of them knew how quickly it would have to return to their lives.

* * *

**A/N:** Please forgive me any spelling or grammar mistakes. Writing in a foreign language is very difficult without a beta.


	2. Chapter One

* * *

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

By Kiki Smith

* * *

Chapter One 

It was dark outside and the clock long ago changed to seven PM, but Hitomi wasn't planning on coming home any time soon. Instead she sat at a table, sipping idly at a mug of tea and trying to do her English homework while still maintaining control over the overexcited children laughing and otherwise making noise all over the room. Several feet across from her sat another volunteer, a university student named Kimiko, immersed in a large stock of papers covering her table and cooing silently to a toddler sitting in her lap.

The Roman letters swam before Hitomi's eyes and she rubbed at them tiredly, deciding to take a small break. She put her pencil away and looked around, only to see Mrs. Nakamura come in through the open door, followed by the Sakamotos. Hitomi grinned.

"Oh, is it so late already?" asked Kimiko, abandoning her studies and looking at Mrs. Nakamura with surprise.

"You're going to find your death in those books, child" Mrs. Nakamura said, rolling her eyes. "I told you many times to leave it and get a husband. Isn't that what you are supposed to do?"

Kimiko narrowed her eyes and glared at Mrs. Nakamura silently. Hitomi sighed. The woman was an old widow who loved to nag at young girls, Kimiko especially, who obviously didn't like it. Kimiko was an idealist. She wanted to do great things and she thought that getting a husband would only cut her options down. Hitomi supported her silently, although she didn't have enough courage to voice her mind. Besides, she didn't want to quarrel with Mrs. Nakamura if she could continue to have such a nice time at the orphanage.

It's been over two years since she returned from Gaea, but she still remembered the Asturian children that were orphaned because of her and her presence in Palas. These memories were the sole reason why she tried to volunteer to help in the nearest orphanage immediately upon her return. It wasn't that simple, though. Even though she begged and plead with Mrs. Nakamura, she still had to wait two whole years until she reached the age of seventeen before she could join Kimiko in helping the children. The two of them became fast friends, even though most of the time Kimiko was buried under her notes and books, memorizing various latin names of diseases and medicines. She wanted to become a peadiatrist, working somewhere abroad, where she could help people without anyone telling her to get married or settled down.

The Sakamotos, on the other hand, were here only temporarily. It was only one day before they were taking one of the children, a ten year old boy named Nobuharu, to their home to start a family. The Sakamotos were a friendly couple, not exactly well-off, but with a lot of love to spare. Hitomi was certain that Nobuharu – who happened to be her favourite, although no one knew why – would be well cared for at their house.

She watched the boy intently as he talked to his new foster parents, thinking back on the person that was just as moody and secretive as he was and stiffling the pang of wistfullness that appeared in her chest. The similarities between Van and Nobuharu were uncanny and it was the main reason why she liked the boy so much. The fact that he was being adopted and there was a bright future ahead of him made her giddy with excitement and she only wished that Van had the same luck in his life.

She turned her head to look at Kimiko, who was regarding the scene with a small content smile.

"I'm going to miss him horribly" she told her.

"Yeah, me too..." the student answered. "But it's always like that... On one hand you're happy for them that they found a family but on the other you don't want them to go away..."

"Mhm" Hitomi nodded glumly. "I knew a boy once who was just like him."

"What d'you mean?"

"You know, all closed up and quiet on the outside, but with a nasty temper and a big heart when you got to know him better."

Kimiko, seeing the far away look on Hitomi's face, pursed her lips and asked with more curiosity, "Do you still keep in touch?"

"No. I – He had to go away. We haven't seen each other since."

It was a lie in a sense – for about a year after she returned to Earth they kept seeing each other at will, but it ended as abtruptly as it started and now Hitomi was finally beginning to put it all behind her.

"Was he a good friend?"

"Well" Hitomi flushed slightly. "He was kind of my first real love."

"A crush?" Kimiko enquired, giving her a crooked smirk.

Hitomi bit her lip and shook her head. "No. It was one of those deep true loves. Even if it seems highly unlikely for a couple of teenagers."

"You still love him then" Kimiko commented with a strange look. Hitomi turned her head, flustered.

"I guess that's true... But I think I've come to terms with the fact that it's hopeless anyway."

"Haven't you tried to contact him somehow?"

"It's not that simple..." she sighed. "He lives a world away."

"It doesn't mean that you can't try."

Hitomi didn't answer. Not entirely comfortable with the topic she excused herself and went to finish her English homework with a sigh of resignation. It was half an hour later when she gathered her things and headed home.

* * *

The next morning Hitomi woke up in tangled sheets. She felt sweaty and sticky and her breath was quickened. When her thoughts immediately turned back on her dream, she felt a dark blush spread on her hot cheeks. 

'I can't believe I dreamt that!' she thought, biting her lip. 'This is so embarrassing!'

The memory of that dream was only a series of images and disturbing sounds, but she still could understand what it was about. And apart from causing her to blush, it made her think.

As any other regular teenager, she had her own erotic dreams and imaginings and her subconscious had already explored various situations happening with various characters. Yet, the dreams always had one thing in common – the atmosphere in them was loving and romantic and both parties did the things they did not from lust, but from love.

This dream had been different. Way different.

There was no love there, she could feel that. The intercourse had been quick, passionate and brutal – something she'd never even thought about before. She honestly had no idea where it came from.

Her mother's voice cut through her embarrassed musings, calling her to breakfast.

Sighing, she untangled herself from the sheets and got up. There was a long day ahead of her.

* * *

The sun was shining brightly, but it wasn't very warm and the wind blowed crisply, chilling the sunrays. It was early October and the autumn term of senpai year had been in full swing for nearly a month, but Yukari and Hitomi managed to find a moment of idleness in a cafe parlor with a lovely view on the seashore. They were sitting at a round table next to a window, both enjoying steaming cups of cappuccino and the relaxing thought of having a whole weekend ahead of them. 

"I've been thinking" Yukari said, examining her nails. "Just please don't laugh at me, I know it's a bit unexpected... But I only got the idea yesterday and it's starting to really grow on me..."

"I'm listening" said Hitomi.

"I've decided to apply to University of Tokyo."

Hitomi stared. "You have?"

"Well, obviously not this year" Yukari snorted. "They would squash me on the entrance exams. But I could take more juku this year and then wait out next year and study for the exams... And maybe, maybe, if I did nothing but studying for the entire year and slept less than three hours a night, I would pass them next time."

A wide grin spread over Hitomi's face. "That's great! We could study together!"

"I hoped we could" Yukari smiled. "But remember, you're way ahead of me... I might not be a good study partner for you."

It was only partially true, because Yukari had already proved that she was a wonderful study partner on numerous occassions, but Hitomi was indeed far ahead in her studies. Graduating UT had been her dream since the beginning of second grade and she'd been working very hard ever since. At first she was a bit discouraged with the low percentage of female students, but when she met Kimiko all her worries disappeared and she was certain that she could and would pass the entrance exams with flying colours.

Her family was very happy with her ambitions – especially her father – and they were eager to spend all the money it took for various juku classes if it were to help her in her preparations. The girls from her homeroom regarded her mostly with respect, but she could see that they also thought she was a bit nuts. It was the same with the boys, but they in turn sometimes laughed at her behind her back for being so stubborn and quietly called her a feminist. She had been a bit hurt when it all started, but she learned to ignore it with time.

No one knew that she got the idea of a university as a means of coping with her problems. Hitomi herself had been unaware of this at first and it took her some time to figure it out, but when she finally did, she understood herself completely. High ambitions and constant studying had taken her mind off things she wanted to stop grieving about. She finally saw that her life didn't consist only of memories of Gaea and Van, but also of an open future waiting to be explored. It was then when her dream of becoming a psychologist was born. It wasn't as separate from her visit to Gaea as she'd hoped, but, she supposed, the several months she'd spent there would be forever interwoven into her personality. The thought of becoming a psychologist partially came from her memories of interactions with various people on Gaea and the influence she'd had on them. She supposed that it would be great to help people solve problems they couldn't solve by themselves.

"You're far away, aren't you?" Yukari commented, before taking a sip of her cappuccino. "What are you brooding about?"

"Nothing, really" Hitomi said with a sheepish smile. "Just thinking."

"If it's nothing important" the redhead muttered, running a hand through her long hair. "I have a favour to ask you."

Hitomi grinned. "Fire away."

"You see, it's kind of stupid and embarrassing, I think..." she paused, looking for words. "But I haven't had a crush on anybody since Susumu... and now, for several months, I've had this odd feeling..."

"What feeling?"

"Of emptiness, I guess" said Yukari with a sigh. "I'd like to fall in love. I know it's stupid..."

"No, no it isn't" Hitomi said quickly. "I know exactly what you mean."

Yukari looked at her curiously. "You get that too?"

"Well" Hitomi stammered. "Not exactly, but really close. What do you want me to do?"

"Um..." she bit her lip and looked at Hitomi with pleading eyes. "I know you've stopped doing it... But I figured that if I asked prettily enough you would at least consider it..."

"Consider what?"

"Would you read my future?"

Silence fell over their table like a blanket. Hitomi stared in surprise at her friend of many years, feeling her mind go blank. Yukari shifted under her scrutiny, wringing her hands together.

"You don't have to, really, it was just a thought..."

"I'll... I'll think about it, okay? I haven't done it for so long that I'm not really sure that I can do it properly anymore."

Yukari beamed. "That's fine by me."

"Why do you want to know your future, anyway? Isn't it better to have it surprise you?"

Yukari furrowed her brow. "Well, I don't know actually. I thought that if I knew whether I would meet someone in the near future or not would fill the empty spot and I could concentrate on something else."

"Knowing the future is a dangerous thing" Hitomi said darkly.

Yukari didn't answer, watching her friend with concern.

"Besides" Hitomi added. "If you knew that you would meet your soul mate any time soon, you wouldn't concentrate on anything else but the fact that he might be sitting next to you on the train."

The redhead nodded. "True, true."

"I know it's really difficult" Hitomi began, but then stopped and lapsed into silence. Yukari frowned.

"What?"

"Well, uh... I think you should just leave it and stop thinking about it. It will come when you're least expecting it."

Yukari huffed indignantly. "It's impossible, you know."

Hitomi laughed. "Difficult, yes, but not entirely impossible. You must find it in yourself to face such a task."

"Very funny. I still can't comprehend how you do – Oh God, look at the time! Mum's going to eat me alive if I don't help her with dinner!"

Laughing, they ran outside and sprinted for the train.

* * *

Several hours later, when the sun was slowly creeping towards the horizon and the lazy Saturday started slipping through Hitomi's fingers, the seventeen year old sat on the floor, half-heartedly playing with a pair of adorable toddlers. Half of her mind was turned to Yukari's request, wondering and considering. 

On one hand she didn't really want to do it – she felt completely comfortable with the Tarot cards tucked away safely at the bottom of her closet – but on the other hand, though, she'd often wondered what it would be like to feel their familiar surface again and this was a very good pretext to do that.

'But' her mind whispered. 'You remember what happened last time. Reading the future can be addictive... You should have burned them when you had the chance.'

She frowned and stared at her hands, not really seeing them. 'I can still burn them if it's necessary' she assured herself. 'But I don't really want to, do I?'

"Is something bugging you?"

The words were spoken quietly, but they still managed to startle her. She looked up and saw Kimiko, carrying a napping Benika in her arms. The student looked mildly concerned.

"Nah" she shook her head. "I'm fine."

The nineteen year old shot her an unconvinced look and walked away. She returned several moments later without Benika, but with a serious expression.

"I'm not blind" she said. "I can see it when someone is not all right. Spill."

Hitomi smiled sadly and motioned for Kimiko to sit down next to her. "It's nothing big, really. I was asked to do a thing I haven't done for a long time and I'm not sure if I should do it, that's all."

"Why did you give it up in the first place?"

"Because... it felt wrong to do it, I guess" she said softly. "And it was dangerous."

A look of alarm appeared on Kimiko's face. "Why was it dangerous?"

"Because every time I did it horrible things would happen because of it."

"Hitomi" Kimiko said gravely. "Were you in a cult, or something?"

Hitomi laughed out loud. "Gods, no! I used to do a lot of fortune-telling, though... and it kind of got out of hand."

'What an understatement' she thought uneasily.

"Fortune-telling?"

"Yeah, with Tarot cards. I stopped doing it in first grade, but my best friend asked me to do a reading today."

Kimiko frowned slightly. "You said that bad things happened because of that... What could happen because of reading Tarot cards?"

Hitomi shifted her legs, looking away. "Let's just say that the predictions became... too accurate."

"Oh" said Kimiko blankly. "Well... If that's the case maybe you shouldn't?"

"The thing is" Hitomi said, "that it probably wouldn't hurt to do a reading from time to time, I guess... But Yukari's reason for it is a bit, you know... trivial."

"Well, that's settled then" Kimiko grinned. "Come on, I bet that old hag has something tiring for us to do."

Hitomi snickered. "Probably tidying up Nobuharu's bed sheets."

"Too right you are."

But when they lifted themselves from the floor, Hitomi couldn't help but feel that she really did want to read the cards again – even if there were consequences to face if something went wrong by any chance. That's why when she found a minute she paged Yukari to tell her to come to her house for a sleep over. The answer she received several minutes later was something she didn't expect.

'Can't come' Yukari wrote. 'My dad's at the hospital. Don't know if he'll be okay. Am scared. Kari.'

She froze with the pager in her hand, staring at it with disbelief. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she didn't allow them to spill over, least Kimiko see them and question her. A feeling of foreboding crept over her heart and a lone thought appeared in her mind, sharp and accusing.

'It's your fault. You shouldn't have even thought about using the cards again. Burn them.'

Chilled to the bone and with a pounding head, she quickly excused herself and left.

* * *

On her way home she listened to her discman, walking slowly and with her hands in her pockets. There was a clenching ache in her stomach together with a hidden anger that made her want to throw something at a wall or scream till her throat gave out. She wanted to know what happened to Yukari's father and why she used the word 'if' instead of 'when'. Did that mean that his state was so bad that he might not recover? What was the cause of it? And why was it so sudden? 

Feeling ready to burst, she sat down on the nearest bench and took several deep breaths. When it didn't help she started counting imaginary sheep and when it still didn't have any effect, she rubbed furiously at her eyes, ran a hand through her fringe and looked at the sky.

The sun had set some time ago, leaving the moon alone amongst the stars. There was no blue planet hanging next to it anymore. It had disappeared about a year ago right along with her ability to see Van anytime she wanted to. She had no idea what was the reason for that, but she'd got to terms with it long ago, nevertheless. She knew she'd matured enough to be able to move on where it was necessary.

She still missed him, though. She dreamed about him occassionally, thought about him in boring lessons and when she fell into a bad mood. Yet she knew that it was never meant to be, anyway. Just like Yukari said all those years ago – long-distance relationships never worked. And this was a long-distance relationship big time.

She longed for someone to talk to about this whole mess, but she'd long ago promised herself that she would never tell anyone about what happened on Gaea. The reason was simple – she didn't want to feel lousy if someone didn't believe her. And apart from that – she didn't trust anyone not to let it slip, which could have very bad consequences for Gaea and its people. She didn't even want to know what would happen if the human race felt endangered by a planet full of intelligent aliens.

That's why she stayed silent, even if there were times when she really wanted to just spill the beans to the first person she met.

Not wanting to go home just yet, she stretched, turned up the volume and just watched the twinkling stars for a while. She felt angry at herself for getting distracted with her own minor problems when her best friend was probably sick with worry, but she knew that she shouldn't get caught up in other people's problems when she had her own to solve.

She frowned at the stars when an intense feeling of deja vu overwhelmed her.

Seconds later a white pillar of light descended from the sky.

* * *

It started with a steady humming sound, reaching him like from behind a mist, soft and unreal. It was followed by regular high-pitched beeps, becoming louder and louder with passing moments. Then came the sensation of lying down on something highly uncomfortable and being covered with coarse itchy fabric touching his bare skin and irritating him. 

It took him several long moments to regain counsciousness, but when he did, there was a familiar feeling of anger settling into the dephts of his mind.

Dilandau Albatau, slowly and patiently, was coming back to life.

* * *

The first thing she did when she saw the familiar light was to stare. But when she noticed that it transported whoever it was transporting ('Let it please be Van!' immediately came to her mind) somewhere in the direction of the Kamakura-Kita high school, without thinking she springed to her feet and broke into a run. In no time she found herself on the railway station, barely making it to the train. With shaking hands she phoned her parents not to wait up for her with the supper and spent the rest of the ride wringing them on her lap. 

The seconds ticked by way too lazily, the train could go at least twenty miles per hour faster for her tastes and when it finally arrived at the right station she wanted to scream from frustration and kill off each and every person in the crowd that was in her way. With a groan of triumph she set off and sprinted as fast as her shoes allowed her. She arrived panting at the entrance to the school and pushed the gate open.

She stopped by the stone stairs leading to the track and leaned on the balustrade. The cool metal surface calmed her and cleared her mind from incesant thoughts. This could be anyone, she knew. It could even be someone who wished to harm her. Then why did she come here with a heart filled with hope and trust? She didn't understand.

'Why am I so happy? And why do I feel like I've done it before?'

Indeed, the feeling of deja vu hadn't left her since she saw the pillar, yet she was certain that she'd never had a vision about this moment before.

"Am I finally going insane, after all this time?" she whispered to no one in particular.

The place was dark and empty and there was no sign that anything out of ordinary had just happened here. What if she was wrong? What if the pillar had appeared somewhere else? And what if it hadn't been a pillar at all? Who knew, maybe it was only a lightening. But it _felt_ like the pillar! There could be no mistakes here.

Hitomi stepped forward, descending the stairs slowly. "Hello?" she called. "Is anybody there?"

When no one answered, she grew worried. "Hello?" she repeated. "Van, are you here?"

For a moment nothing whatsoever happened and Hitomi's heart sank. But then a figure came out of the shadows. "Hitomi?"

A wave of happiness immediately washed over her and she set off forward, leaving her duffel bag behind. She wasn't able to run all the way to him, though. She stopped several feet away, in the middle of a step, the disbelief of seeing him on Earth finally catching up with her. He was tall – much taller than she'd remembered – clad in a sleeveless green shirt and black trousers, carrying a middle-sized bag and with a sword at his side.

"Van...?"

He made a move like he wanted to walk over to her, but he stopped and looked away.

"Van?" she whispered faintly. "Is it really you?"

He looked up and stared at her, but didn't answer.

"Van" she whimpered. "Please say something."

For a moment he did nothing, but when she thought that she was going to faint from the lack of oxygen, a slow smile made its way to his lips.

"You have no idea" he said quietly, "what a wonderful feeling it is to just stand here and talk to you."

She let out a strangled laugh. "You'd better talk a lot then" she muttered. "And tell me what happened."

He looked surprised. "Nothing happened. Why do you think it did?"

"Well" she stammered, flustered. "Something must have happened. You wouldn't be here if it didn't."

He was silent for several seconds. "So something must have happened for me to want to visit you?"

She opened her mouth, but didn't find any words to say.

"Friends usually visit each other from time to time" he continued. "And I thought that we were just that... Or...more than friends, actually."

'Do something!' her mind screamed, but she was rooted to the spot, inable to utter a single word.

"But I guess" he said, averting his eyes and looking at his hands. "It's been a long time and it might have...changed."

"Van" she squicked. "We – We still are... more than friends, I mean... If you want to, of course."

His eyes snapped back to her face and there was a faint blush on his cheeks.

"I was just...surprised. Because I never thought" she paused, biting her lip. "That I would ever see you again."

He smiled. "I never thought that myself. But here I am."

Something made her move and throw herself at him, bringing her arms around his neck and clunging to him tightly. Her heart leapt out of her chest when his arms circled around her waist in turn. It felt surreal and somehow unearthly to stand with him like that, alone on the track.

"Mhm" she suddenly said. "If you want to... You can stay forever then."

His grip on her waist tightened. "That's a very good idea."

She smiled into his shoulder, feeling genuinely happy for the first time in a very long time.

* * *

**A/N:** I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes I might have made. I tend to get mixed up in Past Perfect Tense, so don't mind me, please. Oh, and juku is a preparatory class the Japanese take to pass the entrance exams to high school or university, because the exams are very difficult and the normal curriculum doesn't cover most of the things you have to know to pass them. 

One last thing - big thank you to Feather Black, who gave me my first and single review! I do hope that I will get more of them as the story unfolds.


	3. Chapter Two

* * *

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

_By Kiki Smith_

_

* * *

_

Chapter Two

The soft humming of the life keeping aparature unnerved her. It only reminded her that her father – the most excitable and energetic man she'd ever known – was lying still and helpless on this God forsaken hospital bed, unable to even wake up. He lay unmoving, his breath barely noticable through the plastic tubes that were sticking out of his nostrils. His skin was deathly pale and his dark red hair lay dirty and shineless on his forehead.

Yukari felt wretched. She couldn't comprehend why it must have happened to her of all people, why must have it been her father to have problems with his health? Had he done something wrong in his life? Or maybe it was her? Was it something she'd done? Maybe it was because she'd been such a lousy daughter to her mother lately. Maybe it was a punishment for being such a lousy person in general. She felt helpless and useless. And guilty. Guilty for thinking that it was it. That he wasn't going to be okay ever again.

'Stop it right now, missy!' she yelled in her mind. 'Stop thinking like he's never going to wake up! You know he's going to be back to normal any time soon and everything's going to be okay. No use killing yourself over foolish things.'

But, even though she was determined not to cry anymore, her eyes watered and the tears spilled onto her cheeks. She was all by herself in her father's single ward, while her mother was away, probably either crying or talking to one of the doctors. The silence and loneliness got to her more quickly than she'd thought.

They had arrived at the hospital some six hours ago, Yukari and her mother in a state of near hysteria, and the head of the family unconscious, his chances for recovery thinning with each passing minute. Their problems started with Kaoru Uchida's sudden collapse in the back of the house, in the middle of a conversation on his mobile phone. It had taken some time for Yukari's mother to find him, but when she finally noticed that something was amiss, all the sings said that her husband had had a heart attack. Fortunately, it had been a rather mild one and he made it to the hospital, where he was well taken care of by the doctors.

The fact that he wouldn't wake up threw a shadow over the relief.

Thus he was transported to the intensive therapy department, with his wife and daughter following along. The two women stayed together in the ward for nearly an hour before Leiko disappeared, claiming that she couldn't sit still for a minute longer. Yukari was left alone.

The whole place was way too quiet for her tastes. There were about twenty different people stuck in their comas for God knows how long, not making a sound of course and not giving the staff the least bit of trouble in their deathly sleep. When she had walked down the hall to her father's room Yukari felt shivers run down her spine when she heard the distubring silence emanating from around her.

That's why she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a scream from behind the wall.

The voice was high-pitched and hoarse and she couldn't say whether it was a man or a woman or what they were screaming about because the sounds were too inaudible. She stayed still, listening.

Outside the door she heard some people running. There was some kind of a commotion before everyone entered the screamer's room and everything became still for a short moment before erupting into more shouting. She could hear the head doctor's nasal voice trying to calm down the patient, but he – she could hear it now that it was a he – had other things in mind. She heard him shout at the doctors and nurses to get away from him, to get out and leave him alone.

She supposed his wishes weren't to be granted, but she still hoped they would just go away so he could stop screaming.

Someone must have opened the door to his ward because suddenly his shouts became louder and clearer.

"Jajukaa! Get the fuck away you cretins! Get away!"

There was so much despair and anger in those words that it made her insides clench and she bit her lip, looking at her father's limp hand. What she heard next made her gasp.

"I will kill you, Van! I swear I will!"

Then everything became silent again.

* * *

Gaea shone down from her place next to the moon when they sat at the stands, holding hands and looking at the sky. Van's warm hand in her own caused Hitomi's heart to burst. It's been two years since she'd been so certain of her own feelings and of everything around her. With Van at her side she felt powerful, even though she wasn't strong. 'He is my strenght' she thought fondly, looking up at his face. 

In the two years they'd been apart he became taller and his shoulders broadened. The hands of a boy became the hands of a man, with calloused fingers rough on her palm. His face almost lost the boyish look, but still not quite, crouching somewhere around his eyes. And yet, with so many changes, his hair remained dark and unruly, just like it'd been when she first met him.

"Van."

"Hm?" he turned to her and smiled.

"I'm glad you're here" she said, her eyes glinting.

"Me too."

"How have you been all this time?"

He looked away. "Fine."

"Va-n" she said sternly.

"Oh, all right. There've been some ups and downs, satisfied?"

"No" she frowned. "Tell me."

Van sighed. "I've forgotten how stubborn you can be." She glared at him and he gave up. "Bringing Fanelia to its former glory isn't going as well as it should be."

"How so?"

Van was silent for a moment while he run his free hand through his hair. "We don't have enough money" he said finally. "Rebuilding takes up a hell of a lot of gidaru."

"Can't you borrow some from Asturia?"

Van grimaced. "Asturia is having economical problems and has debts bigger than Fanelia."

"How about Freid? I'm sure that Chid would be happy to help you, Van" Hitomi pressed.

"Let's not talk about it, please" he turned to her with pleading eyes. "I'm here not because I wanted to talk about Fanelia."

Hitomi looked at him intently. "Then why are you here, Van?"

He turned away and she could see a blush form on his cheeks. "Erm...I'm here to...you know, be with you... if you want me to, of course!"

Hitomi's heart soared. Grinning madly, she threw her arms around him, startling the soul out of him. "Of course I want to, silly!"

Van laughed awkwardly at first, but then gradually put his own arms around her and brought her closer to his chest. She buried her face into the fabric of his dark green shirt, inhaling his scent and smiling secretely upon discovering that it was still the same, even after all this time. A feeling of safety spread over her like a blanket and she felt calm, clutching to him like that.

"Mm" she whispered. "I've missed you, Van."

"I've missed you too, Hitomi."

* * *

"Van" she said after they moved away from each other, accenting the 'n' in such a way that it made his name sound as something akin to a sigh. "How's everyone? I mean, Merle, Millerna...Allen." 

He mercilessly quenched the pang of jealousy that had hit him in the chest and he smiled at her, still feeling somewhat shy. It was the way she looked in the strange half-light coming from that stone pole that made him so nervous – she was radiant, with shining green eyes and hair – much longer than he remembered – swept back into a bun. When he'd first looked at her after those two years this odd emotion preserved deep down underneath the every-day problems emerged anew, startling him. The cheesy realization that it was in fact true love, not some flick of imagination, made him feel unnaturally giddy.

"Well, I can't say much about Allen...We haven't kept in touch all that much. And Millerna's struggling with her royal duties..."

He paused and it took him a while to realize that the somber look on his face might alarm Hitomi and lead her to asking difficult questions. Before she could open her mouth, he quickly added. "Merle's another story though."

Hitomi's eyes widened at his playful tone. "What happened? Tell me!"

"You won't believe it."

"Van!"

He laughed. "All right. But I warned you."

"Well?" she pressed.

"She got married."

"WHAT?"

"I told you that you wouldn't believe it" he shook his head with a snigger.

"But – I mean – She can't – She couldn't have – But she's what, fifteen?" Hitomi sputtered. "She's way too young for marriage!"

Van blinked in surprise. "Too young?"

"Of course! She's still just a child."

Van raised an eyebrow. "Hardly. Her language is more foul than any respectable adult's."

"It's not the matter of language! It's the matter of maturity! She hasn't even begun growing up yet."

Van furrowed his brow. "I don't think I understand. How old do you have to be to become an adult?"

"Well" Hitomi said, flustered. "In Japan you are considered of age when you turn twenty, but I suppose it varies from country to country."

"Odd" Van commented. "On Gaea you are treated like an adult when you start to look and talk like one. Taking a certain age for a barier of maturity is silly."

Hitomi pinched her nose in thought. "Well, I personally think you're right... But it's just the way it is here. When Allen had proposed..." she paused and he cringed without meaning to. "I was really surprised and nowhere near to being ready to get married."

"You didn't mind Millerna marrying Dryden, from what I remember" Van said gruffly.

"You mean she was fifteen?"

"Well, yes, she's my age."

Hitomi groaned. "This is really weird" she said before looking at him oddly. "And what about you? You're – You're not married too, are you?"

Van immediately turned red. "Gods no!"

He thought he saw a small relieved sigh escape her lips but he might have imagined it.

"Well" she muttered awkwardly. "So who's the lucky man then? Is he, you know, a cat-man?"

"Yeah" he nodded, glad to be on safe ground again. "He's a rather wealthy trader... As sneaky and stubborn as they come. He managed to make her fall in love with him enough to get her to the altar. That's an accomplishement if I ever saw one."

"Is she" Hitomi bit her lip. "You know, is she happy?"

"If she weren't I'd kill him" Van said darkly. "I guess he's nice enough. Puts up with her – it can only mean that he loves her."

Hitomi laughed out loud. "Too right you are."

For a long moment they just sat there in comfortable silence. Feeling particularly daring, Van put his arm round her back and was pleasantly surprised when she immediately leaned into his embrace.

"How long are you going to stay?" she asked after a while.

He stiffened. "I don't know yet."

"We'll have to find you some place to sleep in. I'm afraid I don't have anything up to the standards of the Fanelia palace, sorry."

He laughed. "I'm sure it'll be all right."

"In fact" she ignored him, looking horrified. "I don't have anything at all! My parents won't let you stay at my house! Well, my mum would, but my dad... Oh, damn! What a disaster..."

"Listen, don't worry" he hurried to calm her down. "It's not a problem, really..."

But Hitomi didn't listen. She buried her face in her hands and breathed out heavily.

"Hitomi" he said quietly. "I don't _need_ luxuries. I can sleep anywhere. Even here."

She looked up, scandalized. And suddenly her expression changed and she brightened.

"The orphanage! There's a spare bed now that Nobuharu's over at his new foster parents' house... Come on!"

Before he had the chance to protest he was dragged across the field to gods only knew where.

* * *

It was ten minutes after the frightening incident when Yukari decided to emerge from her father's ward, find her mum and simply go home. She gathered her things and stepped out into the hall, feeling a bit apprehensive. It was completely empty, apart from a chubby nurse standing right next to the exit door, pining something to a board on the wall. 

Exhaling in relief, she strode down the hall quickly, wanting nothing more than to be out of this chilly place and back at home with her mother. But as she was passing the nurse, something made her stop.

"Excuse me" she said politely after a moment.

The nurse turned to her in surprise. She had a kind, round face and seemed to be quite young.

"I was wondering" Yukari continued, "if you could tell me something... You see, I've heard those screams and if it's okay I would like to - "

The nurse grinned suddenly. "Yes, one of the patients woke up. It was quite a surprise!"

Taken aback, Yukari blinked stupidly. "Why did he scream so much then?"

The nurse furrowed her brow. "I guess it might have been because he was scared... He's a very unfortunate case. Been out for twelve years. Imagine a five year old waking up in a seventeen year old body..." the young woman snickered. "And a delicious one at that! Well, he is awfully thin now, because of the lack of movement, but once he recovers he'll sure be one hell of a hunk!"

Yukari shifted uneasily. "But shouldn't he behave like a five year old?"

"He should" the nurse nodded. "But that's just the thing... He's behaved most oddly today – Doctor Maeda thinks he's been dreaming for the past twelve years, but we've got too little data to make assumptions."

Yukari bit her lip awkwardly.

"Now" the woman put her finger on her mouth. "I must go before I get caught" she laughed. "I shouldn't be telling you any of this, but you look like a nice girl to me and besides – I'm really curious what becomes of this Keiji boy."

With that, the nurse scattered away, leaving Yukari alone with her thoughts.

* * *

The road to the railway station was rather quick and uneventful, although during the time Van spent being dragged by Hitomi, he'd noticed several rather odd things that he hoped he would get a chance to explore later on. There was for example the fact that everything around seemed to be covered in stone or metal and there were odd black ropes looming down on him from above which he found deeply disturbing. But, above all, the oddest thing of all had been the moving gleaming vehicles of various shapes and colours that seemed to move by themselves, without any assistance. 

When they reached their destination and he was able to catch his breath and put on a jacket (upon which Hitomi started apologizing for not noticing that he was freezing), he had already decided not to ask too many questions until they were in a private place, even though everywhere he looked there was something that peaked his curiosity.

"Van" Hitomi called from several feet away, beckoning him to follow. "D'you see those rocks?"

She pointed ahead, in the direction of the dark ocean. Straining his eyesight, he finally saw an irregular shape not very far away from the shore.

"This is where I first saw you" she commented. "It was half an hour after I came back and you were the only thing on my mind."

Feeling a strange warmness fill his chest, he stepped closer to her and put his arms around her. She stilled for a moment and let out an awkward giggle.

"I don't remember you being so... you know, touchy-feely."

He stiffened and moved away. She stopped him by catching his wrist.

"I didn't say that it was a bad thing" she said, chagrined.

Embracing her again, he brought her closer to him and sighed. "I've realised that the people I care about tend to go away quickly... So I decided not to waste anymore time by hiding my... feelings...for them."

"You've changed." It wasn't an accustation, but a simple statement.

"I have. But it has been two years. A lot happened during this time."

"You're right, of course" Hitomi nodded. "I suppose I've changed as well."

As a response he smiled into her hair, relishing in the feeling of having her in his arms.

He was startled by a loud horn and a noise he couldn't put a name to. Turning around and putting Hitomi behind him, he saw an enourmous and heavy-looking shape ride in along the stone platform they were standing on. With wide eyes he watched as the thing stopped and opened what appeared to be doors, but what was even more astonishing was the fact that there were people calmly coming out of them.

He heard Hitomi snigger behind him.

"That" she pointed to the shape, "is a train. It's a public means of transport."

Closing his mouth, he looked at her blankly. "The Mystic Moon is a bizarre place."

She laughed. "And this is said by a person who enjoys flying on a dragon aircraft."

He scoffed at her, but couldn't help but smile.

He didn't stop smiling for the entire journey.

* * *

Someone was humming a pleasant tune when he woke up again, aching all over. There was a fuzzy feeling occupying his head and his eyes felt heavy when he tried to open them. He felt drawn and sleepy like he'd drank too much vino the day before and now was somewhere between drunkedness and being extremely hung over. 

A face appeared in his line of sight. It was an older woman, with worry lines on her forehead and with lank hair falling over her dark eyes. She was crying. When she noticed that he was looking at her, she laughed through her tears.

"Good evening, Keiji" she whispered hoarsely, her eyes filled with unreleased joy.

"'m not Keiji" he slurred. "It's Dilandau. Who're you?"

The woman gave out a dry sob. "Your mother, dear."

The love she put into those words enveloped him and made him warm for some odd reason. His mind wasn't fully awake yet to even begin to analise that, so he gave her a ghost of a smile instead.

"Nev'r had a mother..." were his last words before he fell back to sleep.

* * *

The orphanage was a separate, smallish building, surrounded by a garden with a pseudo-playground consisting of a swing and an old, battered merry-go-round. There was also a pile of sand in the back yard which the children used as a sand-pit and built castles and tunnels in it. Mrs Nakamura had been trying to get some funds to buy a proper playpark for the orphans, but so far she'd been unsuccessful. Not many people really cared about the orphaned children unless there was a problem of homelessness or if a child was starving. Small things like a happy and loving childhood were irrelevant. 

Hitomi brought Van through the gate and down the path leading to the main door, holding his hand and blushing secretely at the thought that he had been the one to link hands with her when they came off the train. It was one of those things she'd dreamed about long ago, even before she went to Gaea – she'd wanted to have someone who loved her, wanted to touch her, hug her... kiss her. Now that her dreams finally came true she felt giddy and light as a feather.

"Now, remember" she said to him before she rang the bell. "You come from Europe - "

"I _remember_" he groaned. "I really do."

She pinched her nose. "I'm really sorry for this... But my parents would have never let you stay. It's because...well, you're a boy."

"I know that" he teased. She decided to join in.

"I don't mind it all that much... But my parents would mind that I don't mind."

Van didn't answer, so she promptly rang the door and waited. Several seconds later Mrs Nakamura appeared on the doorstep, looking quizzically at Hitomi.

"What are you doing here, child? I thought you went home already" she paused when her eyes fell on Van. Her eyebrows travelled upwards. "Good evening."

For a moment nothing happened. Frowning, Hitomi glanced at Van and saw that he was staring at the woman with a panic-stricken expression. Her heart stopped beating.

A flourish of thoughts came to her mind and in one very short second she remembered the very first moment she saw him, two years ago on the track in Kamakura-Kita high school sports area, the dragon, the fear and Yukari's unexpected, unpredicted question that had thrown her so off balance back then.

Somehow, for some strange and unfathomable reason, she was the only one who understood Van's language.

And by the look on his face she assumed that she was also the only person whom Van could understand.

Cursing the whole world in her mind, she hurried to explain.

"Mrs Nakamura, this is Van Fanel. He's just travelled from Europe and can't speak Japanese at all...And he's got nowhere to..."

"Stay?" Mrs Nakamura asked, eyeing Van suspiciously. "And why did you come to me?"

Struggling for words, she cleared her throat, praying that Van wouldn't take offence in what she was going to say. "Both of his parents are dead... And he's only seventeen, so he's still legally a minor."

"And...?" pressed Mrs. Nakamura, although the realization seemed to be slowly dawning on her.

"He's an orphan with no place to stay and no way to make a living" Hitomi explained, looking Mrs. Nakamura in the eye intently. "And this is an orphanage."

The old woman pursed her lips and made a show of reluctantly stepping away. "Come in, then. I see that I have no choice but to let him stay. But it's not permanent!"

She turned around and strode down the hall, not bothering to wait for them. Hitomi exhaled in relief and flashed a bright smile to Van. He looked bewildered.

"What did you say to her?"

Hitomi stared. "You mean you didn't understand me?"

He shrugged. "As soon as you started talking to her, the words turned into some weird gibberish."

"Odd" she commented, frowning. "We'll think it over tomorrow. Come on, she'll be angry if we make her wait."

She lead him in the direction Mrs. Nakamura had gone and they quickly reached a large day room with four doors leading to the children's dormitories. The door with a label 'big boys' were wide open.

"Tell him that breakfast is at eight and it would be nice if he didn't make much noise after nine or before seven" Mrs. Nakamura, who was standing next to the door, whispered briskly, but before she turned around and left, she threw an ill-concealed concerned glance in Van's way.

When they were left alone, Hitomi smiled at him.

"She likes you" she whispered happily. "If everything goes well, you'll be able to stay here for the entire visit."

He shot her a quizzical look. "She doesn't look like a generous person. And why are we whispering?"

"Because there are children sleeping here. I told you it was an orphanage... The orphans here aren't older than twelve years old" she explained. "And Mrs. Nakamura is a very peculiar woman. She's very caring and nice inside, but she seems to think that it's unbecoming and she has to be stern and strict. And, as a bonus, she sacrificed her entire life – from what I know – to helping orphans."

She felt Van's eyes on her as she looked away in embarrassment.

"Does she know that my parents are dead?" he asked slowly.

Hitomi nodded sheepishly.

Van's mouth became a thin line. "Hitomi" he whispered firmly. "I know this time it was probably necessary, but I would rather... you didn't tell personal things about me to other people."

Her cheeks immediatelly heated and she nodded, chagrined.

"Come here" he said, surprising her and she complied by moving closer to him and looking up to his eyes. She noticed that she had to look much higher than she'd had during her stay on Gaea. His eyes had also changed – even if the colour was still the same, the glint was different. She couldn't put a finger to it even if she tried, but she knew that it somehow wasn't the same.

"I'm sorry" she muttered.

"It's all right" he answered, reaching out and softly touching the skin on her face, his hand hesitant. A blush was slowly making its way from his nose and up to the tips of his ears as his eyes roamed her features, making her heart flutter madly in her chest.

"You must go" he said after a moment, his hand sliding down her arm and stopping at her palm. "Your parents will be worried about you."

"Right" she agreed, but her voice sounded suspiciously high pitched to her ears. "I'll... I'll come back first thing tomorrow morning... Sleep tight!"

She turned on her heel and left, flashing him a shaky smile. Her legs wobbled underneath her as she made her way out of the building.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm very sorry for allthe grammar or spelling mistakes I might have made - English is not my first language and I don't have a beta yet, so it's difficult for me to write a grammatically spotless story. 

Thank you to all of you who have reviewed. You have no idea how much a simple comment means to me. :D I do hope you liked this chapter and will drop another nice review some time soon. ;P


	4. Chapter Three

* * *

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

_By Kiki Smith__

* * *

_Chapter Three

"Oh, you're awake! Finally!" chirped a joyful voice somewhere from above him and the first thing that came to his mind was that he'd been waking up awfully often recently.

"I've got to tell Doctor Maeda! I'll be right back, don't worry!"

Before he had the chance to open his eyes, the person – he assumed it to be a woman – left with a characteristic click of closing door.

He rubbed at his eyelids in confusion, and then looked around blearily. The room he was in was painted in sterile white and the only furniture were the bed he was lying on, a small cupboard next to it, a chair and a rather large aparature he had never seen before. Sitting up took surprisingly a lot of effort and he gritted his teeth, hating the unexpected weakness.

'What have those moronic magicians done _this_ time?' he thought angrily, tearing out a tube that was sticking out of his arm and letting it fall to the floor. He eyed the weird plasters that were still attatched to his skin and decided to let them be. He felt wretched. His head was pounding and his limbs were curiously numb- when he tried to move them the muscles tingled and the skin was overcome with a crawly feeling. He frowned. How long had they been keeping him here?

Suddenly the door opened and the chirping woman reentered, wearing a bright smile. She was rather short and round and was clad in a pinkish robe.

"Hello!" she greeted him cheerily. "I'm Nurse Watanabe, but you can call me Natsuki."

"Whatever makes you think I'm going to call you anything you want?" he asked dryly, glaring at her. Surprised, she only laughed a bit and sat down on the chair.

"You can call me whatever _you_ want, Keiji, but only if you behave like a good little boy."

He stared at her in disgust.

"Are you mad, woman? I'm hardly a little boy."

"Yes, well, you might be seventeen in body, but you're still a child, aren't ya?" she deadpanned. "I couldn't find Doctor Maeda, so I'll just have to - "

"Seventeen?" he interrupted her, an alarm light switching on in the back of his head. "I can't be seventeen! I'm fifteen!"

The nurse's face was blank. "Well" she said thoughtfully, "that's weird. You're definitely seventeen years old, but since you were asleep most of the time..."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded. "I'm not seventeen!"

She leaned over to him, smiling sadly, and tried to touch his hand in a reassuring way, but he was quicker. He suddenly put his feet on the floor and took his hand out of her reach. The woman jumped in shock, watching him with big brown eyes as he shakily stood up and glared down his nose at her.

"_Never_ do that again" he snarled. "Don't you know who I am?"

Frowning, the woman stood up as well, but she only reached up to his chin. "Listen, mister, drop the cheek right now!"

He sneered at her, crossing his arms, appearing unshaken even though he felt a bit faint. "I could order my men to do whatever they pleased with you" he said cruelly. "Or, better yet, I could play with you myself. Now, are you going to tell me why the fuck are you keeping me here or do you really want to know how Alseides' claw looks like from the inside?"

"Keiji, you're obviously still living in your dream word" the woman commented, mimicking his stance. "You must snap out of it."

She turned and marched for the door, her dark hair jumping behind her. She turned over her shoulder. "If you want something, just press the red button."

"Woman" he growled. "You don't just treat Dilandau Albatou like that and live to tell the tale."

She lifted an incredulous eyebrow at him. "It's good that your name is Keiji Yamashita, isn't it?"

Without another word she turned and left.

* * *

His knees buckled underneath him and he fell on the bed, feeling strings of pain running through his legs. Rage swelled inside of his chest and he clasped his hands on the sheets.

'What the _hell _is going _on_?'

"You were right. The sea is the same, no matter where you are."

Hitomi leaned closer to him and beamed a genuinely happy smile. She took a sip of her hot chocolate, looking at her companion over the cup.

They were sitting at one of the round tables in her favourite cafe, enjoying each other's presence and nursing their drinks. Van had been surprised upon finding out that vino – and every other type of alcohol - was prohibited in Japan if you were underage, but he finally subsided and ordered a cup of tea. And then, after a few minutes of comfortable silence he looked out the window and became fascinated wth the seashore.

"I've lived here my entire life," said Hitomi. "The ocean is nothing new to me."

"I stayed in Fanelia until I met you" said Van. "And then my life became a series of journeys around Gaea."

"You must have become bored with your planet" she joked. "Why not visit another?"

He blinked and looked away. Hitomi quickly dropped the teasing smirk.

"Something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine."

'I'm sure you are' she thought grimly, watching him look around the cafe. 'There's something wrong with him. I can feel it.'

He looked back at her and she quickly shook the gloomy thoughts away.

"You live in a beautiful city" he said. "The sea, the beach, those temples..."

"Mhm, it was the capitol of my country a long time ago. But now it's been moved to Tokyo. It's an hour train ride from here. We can go there if you like."

He nodded. "That would be nice. "

"But before we go you must know a couple of important things about Earth. Tokyo is much bigger and louder and busier than Kamakura."

"Don't worry," he said, half-smiling. "We have time."

Hitomi smiled and thought back to the morning, before she met up with Van. She had been nervous about taking him around her town, but she really wanted to show him where she lived. It was Van, after all, and it wasn't everyday when he stopped by to visit.

She turned her attention back to him. He put his hand next to his cup and her eyes got glued to it for a reason she couldn't explain.

'What if I reached out and took his hand in mine?' came a sudden thought and she felt her cheeks go warm. 'No, he'd think I'm a nympho or something.'

He drummed his fingers on the surface of the table and Hitomi shifted on her chair. 'I bet it would feel divine.' She bit her lip. 'Just like he held my hand when we went to the temple where he fought the dragon. But wouldn't it be too bold if I just took it? I mean, shouldn't the man be the first to do that kind of thing?'

A realization dawned on her. 'But what if I provoked him somehow?'

The butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she put her right hand next to her half-full cup and waited. Several moments passed and nothing happened so she looked up at Van and saw that he was intently studying a painting on the far wall of the cafe. She bristled.

'Stupid idiot. Why can't they ever get the hint?' she frowned. 'Boys are so oblivious sometimes. And touching and stuff should be what they live on! Or maybe he doesn't want to touch me?' She worried her lower lip for a moment before mentally slapping herself on the forehead. 'Of course not! Why would he hug you, stand next to you and hold your hand if he didn't want to touch you?'

She regarded him levelly, her fingers itching. He was still looking around the interior of the cafe.

'Maybe it's time for me to make the move? To show him that I do care?'

Decision made, she reached out and grasped his hand in hers.

The time slowed. Her awareness of what was happening quickly caught up with her and she froze. 'Oh. My. God.'

Van's head snapped back in her direction and she immediatelly ducked and tried to hide behind her hair. It was too late to go back, though.

Long seconds passed and just when she thought she should just take her hand away she felt a strong grip on her palm. She glanced up and saw Van looking at her with an unnaturally large smile.

"So, what are we doing next?" he asked brightly.

Hitomi stammered. "Er... I... I thought we could go to the beach. The weather is nice enough today."

"Great!" He stood up suddenly, dragging her with him. "Come on!"

"What! No, Van! We have to pay the bill first and - !"

But he was already at the door, not listening.

* * *

Doctor Satoru Maeda whistled as he walked up the stairs and took the door to the left, entering his department of the Kawakita General Hospital in Tokyo. He tucked his hands in the pockets of his white uniform and headed for his office, his mind busy with processing the news he had just gotten from the laboratory. Although, if he wanted to be completely honest with himself, it was rather a confirmation of the truth he had already been aware of.

There was nothing wrong with Mr. Yamashita.

He had slept for the most part of his young life while being absolutely healthy. They had checked everything – his brain, his heart, his arteries, his blood, his cells... simply everything. There were no changes, no damages, no viruses or bacteria – in a word, nothing suspicious whatsoever. And, to make things even more abnormal, not only there wasn't a reason for the boy's coma, but there also weren't any signs of it ever existing. His body was in perfect shape, without the emaciation that was the unfortunate tag-along of prolonged sleep.

Doctor Maeda shook his head, entering his office and attaching the lab results to the rest of Keiji's files. Who was he to protest if what he saw was a miracle? God knew there weren't enough of them these days.

'But what to do with the boy when he wakes up? He obviously has been dreaming, probably about something as unbelievable as his present condition' he thought tiredly, rubbing at his eyes. 'I guess we'll have to call Frank for help. He'll be the only one to make a difference.'

Quick, loud footsteps in the hall caught his attention. He turned just in time to see Natsuki march into his office, looking uncharacteristically frustrated.

"Doctor Maeda, finally! I've been looking for you all over the place."

He frowned. "Yes?"

"He's woken up."

Satoru sighed. 'Here goes nothing...'

"Thank you, Miss Watanabe. I'll be right there."

* * *

He didn't know how long he'd sat on the bed, with his face hidden in his hands, but the minutes seemed to stretch into oblivion. The dizziness receded some time ago, but he still didn't feel strong enough to stand without falling face first on the floor. This strange weakness got on his nerves more than anything that happened since he woke up. He hated not being in control over his own body. And, as an addiction, it seemed that he was bleeding from the spot he'd yanked the tube out of earlier.

"Blast" he muttered, clearing away the blood with the hem of the white linen quilt. 'Just what I need. And I really am getting hungry... I hope they'll give me a decent meal once they sort out this misunderstanding.'

His thoughts were interrupted as an older man in a white suit entered the room, his eyes covered by a pair of spectacles.

"Good morning, Mr. Yamashita" he said in a serious voice. "I heard you are quite troublesome."

"Firstly" hissed Dilandau. "My name is not Yamashita. And I can be as troublesome as I very well please. You'd better finish with this nonsense before I get really angry!"

"Oh, is that a threat?" the man asked, obviously unimpressed. "And your name _is_ Yamashita. I should know, as you'd been in this ward for almost six years. Your previous doctor gave me your documents before he retired and the name 'Keiji Yamashita' was clearly written in your files. Your mother also, suspiciously, calls you Keiji."

"I don't _have_ a mother!" Dilandau growled. "And my name is Dilandau Albatou, idiot. Now that you know it, I suggest you fetch the magicians, because I need to talk to them urgently."

"Magicians?" the man looked sincerely surprised. "I don't know what you mean. If you are reffering to medicians, though, then I am your man."

Dilandau took a long hard look at him. "You are no magician."

"Perhaps. I am Doctor Maeda, though and you" he paused, looking Dilandau straight in the eye, "are my patient. You are, therefore, obliged to obey me. Now, tell me, what have you done to your arm?"

"I obey no one but Emperor Dornkirk!"

"Very well then, let's pretend that I am your Emperor..."

"Don't play games with me!" Dilandau snarled into the man's face, using all of his strenght to stand up and catch him by his clothes. "Where is my sword? Where is my guymelef? Answer me!"

Doctor Maeda stared hard back at him, unflinching. Suddenly he called out, but the words weren't directed to Dilandau. "Daisuke! Please, come in here, I need your help!"

Not even a second passed when another man, much younger than Doctor Maeda, marched in with a blank expression.

"Help me handle him" Doctor Maeda instructed. "His behaviour is most impolite."

Dilandau's reflexes must have suffered because of his weakness and the man called Daisuke launched at him and successfully immobilized him on the bed. Gritting his teeth, Dilandau glared at them both.

"I will kill you" he hissed. "I swear I will."

"Yes, we know that you are capable of it" Doctor Maeda said, sounding like it was a topic for a conversation you hold while having a feast. "Now, I think that a good sound sleep will do you good."

Dilandau didn't even notice it before it was too late, but the man somehow produced a syringe with some colourless fluid and quickly applied it right into his vein.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"As I said, Mr. Yamashita. Putting you to sleep."

And sleep he did.

* * *

The roar of the sea was pounding in his ears, the fingers were tingling from the sensation of Hitomi's hand and his heart was running wild with the weirdest feeling that made him grin for the most part of the way down to the beach. It was beautiful here, but Van wasn't paying attention. He was focused entirely on her and on her adorable blush and on her lips. There was nothing in the world that could make him stop.

Or so he thought.

"Van, how long are you staying?"

He immediatelly shook his goofiness away and schooled his features into a questioning smile.

"What do you mean?"

She huffed in irritation. "I mean, how long until you're going back to Gaea."

He looked sidewise, not knowing what to say. "I don't know yet. I haven't thought about that, really."

"I just wish you came in summer" she complained, biting the inside of her cheek and creating an odd little dimple in her face. "I would have been able to spend much more time with you then... and now, I have to go to school almost everyday!"

He scowled, glaring at the sea. "How should I know if it's summer or winter on the Mystic Moon?"

"Er" she stammered, obviously taken aback. "I – I don't know. Which season is it on Gaea right now?"

"Spring" he muttered, dejected. "I'm sorry... It's just... this..._trip_... has taken a lot from me. There were a lot of people who were against it... Against the whole thing, actually."

He glanced at her when he felt her touch on his upper arm. She was looking at him with her big green eyes glazed with emotion.

"I'm sorry for being a prat" she said, giving him a shaky smile. "And thank you for doing this. I mean, coming here. It's not exactly a piece of cake to travel to another world, is it?"

"A piece of cake?"

She blinked. "What?"

"What do you mean, a piece of cake?" he asked, bemused. She burst into a fit of giggles, making him uncomfortable. Whe she finally got a hang of herself, she flashed him a grin and explained.

"A piece of cake is a phrase, silly! It means something very easy."

"We don't use it in Fanelia" he muttered, crossing his arms. "I don't know why you're laughing."

Seeing him like this made her laugh even harder. Not really knowing what to do or how to stop her, he threw a fistful of sand on her trousers. She stopped for a moment and gave him a surprised gawk.

"What! No way you're getting away with that!"

And so commenced a cheerful sand-fight.

* * *

Yukari woke late after a restless night, but she was still as exhausted as she'd been before she fell asleep. Her head pounded and her eyes hurt from the crying session she had funded herself several hours earlier and she generally felt wretched.

After a quick breakfast made of an apple and a glass of milk she went to the living room to see how her mother was fairing. She wasn't doing that well, either. She was watching the telly when Yukari entered the room. Her eyes were puffy, her hair looked horrible and she still hadn't changed from her pajamas, even though it was already noon. Yukari threw herself on the sofa next to her and stared gloomily at the screen.

"What are we going to do today?"she asked after a moment. Leiko sighed.

"I don't know, really. I suppose we should go to the hospital after dinner... But I really don't want to go back there..." she paused and glanced at her daughter with tired eyes. "You don't need to go if you don't want to, love."

For a moment Yukari didn't know what to say, but she quickly gathered her wits. "I'll go. I don't have anything to do, anyway."

"What about school? Don't you have any homework to do?"

Yukari shook her head. "You know I always do it on Fridays."

"All right" Leiko muttered, turning back to the TV. "What would you like to eat for dinner? The fridge is empty, so you can choose whatever you want. I'll go shopping in an hour or so."

Yukari bit her lip. "No, you don't have to go. I can buy something when I'm out."

"You're going out?"

"Erm, I thought I could meet up with Hitomi... But I don't have to do that! We can go shopping together if you like" she added, seeing the weird expression on her mother's face.

"No, no, you can go, of course. I can't keep you holed up in the house."

The red-haired girl was silent for a long moment, all the time studying her mother's features. "Are you sure?" she finally asked. "Will you be all right when I'm gone?"

Leiko turned her head in surprise. "Of course I'll be all right, why shouldn't I – oh." She reached out and pulled Yukari into a fierce hug. "Nothing's going to happen to me, love. I will be fine. Everything will be fine. Dad is going to recover and everything will be back to normal."

As her mother held her, Yukari's resolve crumbled once again and she started to cry silently, the tears soiling Leiko's pajamas. Her shoulders heaved and her breath came in gasps when she started talking.

"I hate life. I hate this country and I hate how we're all living here! No time for rest, no time for anything! Just work, work, work... That's why dad's in a coma now. And we're all going to end up like that! You, me, even Hitomi! All she's doing these days is studying... She's got no social life apart from me..."

Leiko caressed her daughter's long, dark red hair. "Hitomi's life is her own decision. If you don't like what she's doing, you can tell her so, but you can't force her to change. You'll make your own decisions and you don't have to pick Hitomi's choice, you know."

Yukari shook her head and sat back. "This is the only choice, mum. The lesser evil. If I don't go to the university I will have to work twice as hard and for less money. It's a vicious circle."

"It doesn't necessarily have to be that way" Leiko said quietly. "Life can be beautiful once you come to terms with what it has given you."

Yukari sat with her mother for another several minutes before standing up.

"I'm going to call Hitomi and see if she's free."

"Have fun, love."

She gave her mother a smile and left.

* * *

She didn't know when they moved from sitting to lying down, but it somehow happened along the way. The ringing of her mobile phone found them watching clouds on the sky above, lying side by side, their legs almost touching and their fingers interwined. It felt wonderful for Hitomi to just exist beside Van and to not worry about anything else. It proved that life indeed could be beautiful from time to time.

When the phone rang both of them almost jumped out of their skins. Hitomi quickly got the devide out of her pocket and aswered it.

"Hello?"

"_Hitomi? It's Yukari._"

"Yukari!" she gasped. She'd forgotten about Yukari! "Are you all right? Is your dad all right? What happened?"

There was a dry laugh on the other side of the receiver. "_I'm fine. I was wondering if we could meet in half an hour or so and have a talk... It's not exactly a phone conversation._"

Hitomi's first thought was to agree immediatelly, but then she saw Van look at her with a bewildered expression and everything came back to her. The weight of the sticky situation she found herself in fell on her shoulders and she swallowed guiltily. She couldn't say no to Yukari's request – she didn't want to do that, anyway – but the thought of leaving Van on his own made her stomach turn.

"_Hitomi? Are you there?_"

"What...? Oh. Yes, I'll meet you in forty five minutes at your house, okay?"

There was a pause. "_Honestly, I would prefer to go out. How about a strawberry cake at Yugetsudo?_"

Hitomi bit the inside of her cheek. "Okay, but I won't make it in forty five minutes, then."

"_Where are you?_"

"Erm, I'm on the beach, actually. But I need to step by my house to drop some things. I'll be there at quarter past first, all right?"

"_Okay, no problem. See you there._"

"Yeah... see you..."

She put the phone away and closed her eyes. Tears prickled behind her eyelids, so she took her time to calm down, taking several deep breaths. When she turned to see Van, he wasn't looking at her, but she knew that he wasn't happy.

"It was my best friend, Yukari" she said in a small voice. "Something bad happened to her dad... and she wanted to talk to me as soon as possible."

He didn't answer.

"I really need to go" she said, panicking. "She's my best friend and..."

"Right" he muttered. "Of course you need to go."

"Van..."

"Come on. You don't want to be late, do you?" he asked levelly while standing up and helping her do the same. When she shook her head he added, "we can't waste the time."

They left the beach in silence.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm sorry about the very long wait... School is killing me and I have suffered the worst case of writer's block ever. I hope you didn't lose faith in me yet... Anyways. Please don't complain about spelling and grammar mistakes and generally about the profanation of the English language... I'm not a native and I still don't have a beta. I doubt I'll ever have one with my chaotic updates.

Thank you to all who reviewed :P You made my day as always.


	5. Chapter Four

* * *

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

_By Kiki Smith

* * *

Chapter Four_

"So, basically, that's it. A load of shit... I still can't believe it happened."

Yugetsudo was mostly deserted save for several patrons on the other side of the cafe, chewing on their muffins and other desserts. Yukari was pushing the remains of her strawberry cake around her plate when she finished telling the gruesome details of her weekend to her best friend. Hitomi's heart went out to her and she held her hand over the table for the most part of the redhead's story.

"I could do the reading for you, if you still want it" Hitomi offered shyly. Yukari glanced at her in surprise.

"Reading?"

"Yeah. You asked me to read your future..."

The long-haired girl became pensive. "I don't think I really want to know the future right now. What if it's bad?" she asked, her voice cracking. "Besides" she snorted angrily. "Isn't it kind of trivial to ask for fortune tellings about your love problems when real life can be so unpredictable?"

Hitomi stayed silent, seeing that her friend wanted to speak.

Yukari took a deep breath. "I don't know what we're going to do now, Tomi. What if he never wakes up? Or if he does, but it's ten years from now? What then? Can you imagine how he'll feel then?"

Hitomi shook her head.

"I can. There was this boy in the intensive care department. His ward is just next to my dad's. He was in a coma for twelve years... Oh God, how he screamed when he woke up..."

Htiomi held her breath when she saw Yukari's body heave with dry sobs. She grasped her other hand and squeezed tightly, but it didn't seem to bring any help. As she watched her best friend of many, many years fall completely apart Hitomi could hardly stop herself from bursting into her own tears. She didn't really know how to behave, what to say or what to do to make it all better. Her heart ached, but soothing words continued to evade her mouth, so instead she stayed silent, griping Yukari's hands with all the love and frienship she could muster.

It started to rain outside and the water fell against the glass of windows with a calming, steady sound. Raindrops hit the windowsills quietly as Yukari cried, her head bowed and the hot tears sliding down her nose.

It took her several minutes to calm down.

"I'm sorry I'm like this" she sniffed. "And I didn't even ask you how you were."

Hitomi's heart stopped. For a very short moment she considered spilling the beans about Van to her, but she decided against it. It was neither the time nor place for such confessions.

"Same as always. Nothing new to say. And please don't apologize... I'm your friend and I'm here for you."

Yukari smiled sadly. "Thank you."

"You'd do the same for me."

"Of course."

And Hitomi knew it was true.

* * *

The sun had set some time ago and it quickly got dark in the sterile white room he was confided to. There was no sight of a candle or a lamp anywhere around the place, so Dilandau angrily resigned himself to sitting in the darkness.

He had woken up several moments before and since then didn't come up with any brilliant theories about his current situation. He even tried to destroy a couple of things to relieve his anger, but the only thing he got out of that was an extremely sore toe and an unnerving feeling of frustration. And since wreaking havoc was simply out of the question (mainly because the door appeared to be locked and he still felt suspiciously weakened) there was nothing else for him to do apart from staring out the window.

That was when he saw it. The sky was a bit cloudy, but most of the stars and the moon were clearly visible. The night was sheer and brisk and, had he been more inclined to be a sentimental fool, he would have called it beautiful. There was, however, something completely and utterly wrong with the picturesque view he saw from his window.

There was no sight of the Mystic Moon. Anywhere.

Dilandau clutched the windowsill in his hands as the information sunk heavily in his mind. For the longest moment he stood speechless, having lost the ability of logical thought. When he finally regained it, he racked his brains for every bit of information he'd ever read or heard about the moon and the Mystic Moon cycles on Gaea. After frantically going through everything he remembered he came to a conclusion that there had never been a case when the two orbs were separated. Ever. They always appeared together – where was the moon, there was the Mystic Moon as well and vice versa.

"What the fuck is going on?" he muttered in disbelief.

He reached out, opened the window and leaned over the sill to look down. And he almost lost his balance.

"Holy shit!" he yelled and jumped several steps away from what he saw. "Where the hell am I? This is a nightmare!"

After taking several calming breaths, he bravely returned to the window and looked out, this time more carefully. What he saw still overwhelmed him, but he managed to stay composed enough to have a better look.

He was very high above the ground level and both on the right and on the left side of him there were rows of other windows, their glass glistening eerily in the moonlight. A long way below him a strange place bustled with life – little people in white uniforms ran around large white vehicles shouting and otherwise making a lot of noise. A bit further away a wide dark road meandred between small patches of grass and trees, disappearing in a myriad of other vehicles and red and yellow lights. And finally, giant rectangular shapes loomed on the horizon and a red glow surrounded them like like a blanket.

Dilandau breathed deeply and grimaced. Even the air was different – thicker and with a sickening metallic aftertaste. It reminded him of the polluted air in Zaibach and he was suddenly sized by an undescribable feeling in his gut. His insides clenched and whatever anger there was in him at that moment evaporated.

'I wonder who won the war. Although it's impossible that Zaibach lost. Emperor Dornkirk is surely doing what he should have been doing from the beginning – ruling over Gaea. With all of his wisdom, he might have already managed to wipe off all of the misbreeds.'

He winced as an image of a dogman flashed before his eyes. He quickly shook it away, though.

'The generals might have given me an order for all of my input into the fighting. I wish I could have been there to gloat.' He smirked slightly, leaning his head on his palm. 'Stupid bunch of idiots. Hiding behind their well-thought strategies and refusing to do their dirty work. Folken was the same. Always nagging and pestering me about taking action. Cowards.'

He looked back at the moon and scowled. 'And now I'm here, supposedly two years older, Devil knows where. There's no Mystic Moon on the sky. People think my name's Keiji! That's just stupid. Do I _look _like a Keiji?'

There was a knock at the door, followed by a click, which signalled that the key was being turned in the lock. Dilandau turned around and tried to see what was going on, but it was difficult in the near darkness. The door opened and someone came in.

"Keiji? Are you awake?"

"Who's asking?" Dilandau snarled dangerously.

"Oh, there you are" the person muttered, not reacting to his question. "Why are you sitting in the dark? Oh, sorry. Forgot that you probably wouldn't know what to do with the light switch."

In an instant the room erupted in blinding light and Dilandau yelled in surprise. He immediatelly screwed his eyes shut and put his hand up to cover them.

"Are you out of your mind!" he wheezed. "You could have warned me!"

"Sorry" the person – it was a man – said. "I didn't think."

"Obviously!"

"Hey, stop being so spiteful, will you?"

"I'll be as spiteful as I very well please!" Dilandau slowly opened his eyes and squinted in the direction of the voice. "Oh, it's you."

The man grinned. "Hospital attendant Daisuke at your service." He put his hands into the pockets of his white uniform. "Doctor Maeda sent me. Your parents will be here in a minute and he thought best to warn you."

Dilandau froze in shock. "My... what?"

"Your parents, silly" Daisuke grinned. "They've been dying to see you. You were asleep for most of your life, you know. It's high time they were able to talk to their only son and get an answer."

"Don't joke with me!" Dilandau hissed, not exactly feeling up to any shouting just yet. "I don't _have_ parents. That's just preposterous. Dragon Slayer Dilandau Albatou doesn't have such a trivial thing as parents."

Daisuke looked oddly at him. "What's a Dragon Slayer?"

Dilandau raised his eyebrow incredulously. "What do you think? A highly classified soldier! I am the leader of the Dragon Slayers. Or... I was before I came here. Where is here, anyway?"

Daisuke blinked at him, but then came closer, his hands still in his pockets. "You're in the intensive care department of Kawakita General Hospital in Tokyo."

Dilandau's brows met over his nose in a dark frown. "Where is Tokyo?"

"In Japan. That's the country you come from. Don't you remember?"

"Listen, I'm not who you think you are" he said angrily. "My name is not Keiji and I don't come from Japan, wherever that is. So stop calling me that and stop assuming I know things which I don't. This is not Gaea, is it? There is only one moon on the sky... So tell me, where the fuck am I?"

The last bit was almost snarled in Daisuke's face, as Dilandau moved from his spot by the window to stand in front of the man. Daisuke, to his surprise, smiled gently at him.

"The planet we are on is called Earth. And the moon on the sky is its natural satellite" he said. "I hope it answers your question."

It did. It sure as hell did.

"Oh, fuck" he muttered. "I'm on the Mystic Moon."

With that said, his legs gave out and he collapsed on the bed.

* * *

The room he was in was warm and cosy and there were absolutely no reasons to feel uncomfortable. Van, though he was aware of that, couldn't help but feel a little bit awkward under the matron's scrutiny. She was keeping her hawkish eyes on him, not even bothering to hide it.

He sighed, leaning back and turning his gaze to the little boys who gathered around him. He'd become the centre of their attention about an hour ago, several minutes after Hitomi dropped him off at the orphanage to meet with her friend. Still feeling angry with her about that, he sat down at a table and sulked, but his bad mood didn't last long. When the anger evaporated, he turned his attention to what was happening around him and to his suprise, he saw a couple of boys playing knights with wooden sticks as swords.

A great smile bloomed on his face as he watched them. For a long time they were oblivious that they had a spectator, but he was soon discovered. At first the realization of being watched put a stop to the game, but as Van tried in vain to stiffle a grin and school his features into a blank expression, the oldest of the group – and obviously the most daring – came over to him, offering him a stick. He said something in Japanese, but Van didn't have to understand it to know that he was being asked to join in the fun.

And thus commenced a half an hour filled with laughter, pretend-wounds and loud victorious shrieks. For a moment he forgot about the entire world, about Fanelia, about his clouded future. All he cared about was putting happy smiles on the children's faces and about feeling those joyous butterflies deep inside his stomach.

Out of breath and tired, but extremely content, they had settled on the carpet far away from where the matron was bustling around something obviously very important. Some of the girls joined them – one of them, a gorgeous three year old, went as far as climbing into Van's lap and wrapping her arms around him. A blush spread from his nose onto his cheeks when he caught the matron looking at him with a fond smile. He looked hastily away and almost uncounsciously started playing with the girl's dark hair. The sensation of being held reminded him of Merle – or more accurately, of how she used to cling to him whenever she had the chance. Letting her go had been awkward and sad, but the thought of her romantic feelings were shifted in another direction relieved him. He didn't think he could go on hurting her by loving Hitomi.

He sighed. It was still difficult for him to comprehend the vastness of his emotions. It seemed kind of stupid and sentimental to think so much about it, but the rashness of his actions disturbed him. Allen had warned him about coming here, but, strangely enough, he didn't try to stop him. Merle, though devastated, was still her thoroughly supporting self. They were one of the very few who thought he was doing the right thing.

He smirked bitterly. Hitomi had no idea just how much he had to do before he could be with her. And he wasn't going to tell her. Yet, anyway.

Just at that moment the main door opened and a young woman came in, immediatelly shedding her coat. She headed straight for the matron, looking distressed. They started talking in hushed voices, the woman gesturing wildly and rubbing at her eyes from time to time. Van frowned, wondering who she was and what might have happened to her when she suddenly turned her head and saw him looking. He quickly dropped his eyes to the girl in his arms, but when he looked up again, the two women were whispering to each other, staring at him with weird expressions.

It took him a moment to decide that retreat was his best option. Trying to tame his embarrassment, he untangled himself from the children and headed for his room. Once inside, he breathed a relieved sigh.

'Wonder when Hitomi's going to come back. I hope it'll be soon.'

He sat down at the bed they allowed him to use and reached for his bag. 'Might as well put everything in the right place to kill the time.'

He refolded his extra clothes and put them on the bed, took out the dagger he got from Dryden and Millerna as a parting gift and looked it over once again. It was made of exquisite and highly expensive alloy produced at an embarrassingly small scale in Basram. The dagger must have cost them fortune – if the elaborate cravings on the handle and on the blade were anything to guess on.

It was a very thoughtful present, though. As he soon realized, carrying a sword by your side wasn't something you saw very often on the Mystic Moon. 'Good,' he thought. 'Maybe there won't be any need of fighting. Better not to risk it, though. The dagger would be the best weapon in these difficult circumstances.'

He looked through other small presents and put his sword on the bed, running his hand over the sheath. Then he caught himself, and clearing his throat turned back to the contents of his bag. He noticed the small brown package somewhere at the bottom.

'It's Celena's gift,' he thought in surprise. 'I forgot all about it.'

He took it out of the bag and set to unwrap it.

* * *

Only several minutes passed from his realization, but he was still dumbfounded by it. Daisuke had left after ensuring that he was all right, but Dilandau hardly registered it. The only thing on his mind was the pressing question of how the _hell_ was that possible for him to be on the Mystic Moon. Yes, the concept of travelling between the two worlds wasn't by any means new, but he only associated it with that witch girlfriend of Van's. As far as he knew, he didn't have any psychic powers or other crap like that, so this whole situation seemed completely illogical. The other pressing question was _why_ had he transported himself to the Mystic Moon? That must have been the stupidest thing he'd ever done. Unless... Someone had done it _for_ him.

'That's it!' he thought. 'Someone must have sent me here because they didn't want me on Gaea. But only the magicians have a power like that... But why would they do that?... They probably didn't, you idiot. It was that bitch! And that blasted hybrid itched her on! It's all their fault!'

He twisted the fabric of the sheets in his fists. "I'm going to find you, Hitomi Kanzaki" he hissed. "And you won't like it. Not one bit."

"Keiji?"

He whirled around and saw a man and a woman stand in the doorway. He'd been so preoccupied he didn't hear it open – and now the people who thought they were his parents arrived without him being able to prepare.

He gave them a dark look. He recognised the woman – she had black lank hair and tired eyes – but the man looked unfamiliar. Not much taller than his wife, he stood proud and with a rather muscular physique and his face was a myriad of angles and heavy lids.

The woman spoke. "How are you, dear?"

Dilandau didn't answer, choosing instead to watch her with narrowed eyes. She moved slowly forward, until she stood right next to the bed. Carefully, she sank onto the sheets at a far enough distance away from him. The man took the chair and seated himself next to his wife.

The awkward silence continued. His 'mother' averted her eyes from his drilling gaze, but she wasn't giving up and he knew it.

"Keiji, this is really hard for all of us" she finally said. "I'm really sorry about what happened to you, but it's really not our fault..."

"Oh, I'm not blaming you" he spat suddenly. "I'm just wondering why the hell do you continue telling me I'm someone I'm not. My name is Dilandau. And I don't have parents. So you can stop acting."

"Doctor Maeda said something like that might happen, Sanako" the man said to her ignoring his supposed son. She threw him a warning look and then turned to Dilandau.

"I'm sorry you feel that way" she said sadly. "What can we do to make you believe us?"

He sneered. "Well, for starters you could leave me the fuck alone."

He wasn't surprised to see the man bristle with anger. "How dare you speak to your mother like that!"

Dilandau laughed merrily. "You _are_ stupid, aren't you? What part of 'I don't have parents' don't you understand?"

He wasn't prepared for what happened next, but he still managed to stop the blow almost effortlessly. The man had stood up and tried to hit him over the head. Fury erupted in him and went through his body hot like lava. 'That... that dog tried to strike me!'

His fingers curled around the surprised man's wrist. "That was the worst mistake of your life, _father_" he hissed. "And now you're going to pay."

The man screamed in terror when he fell to the floor and found himself at the receiving end of Dilandau's vicious kicks. He quickly curled into a fetal position, clutching his mid-section and wailing for help. Dilandau didn't stop, feeling a thrill swell up in his chest. 'Yes, that's right! You'll get what you deserve, you worthless worm!'

The time stretched. He didn't know when he stopped kicking and got dragged away by two pairs of strong arms. He barely registered the sight of wide eyes boring into him with fear. He tried getting away and finishing what he'd started, but the grip on his shoulders was too strong. A hit to the headmadehim unconscious.

* * *

She was almost out of her breath when she reached the door of the orphanage, stomping inside with the grace of a rhino. It already took her more time than she had promised to get back from her meeting with Yukari and she hoped that Van would be able to forgive her. Throwing worried glances around the day room, she took off her jacket and walked over to Mrs Nakamura and Kimiko, who were standing next to each other, whispering.

"Mrs Nakamura?" she called. "Have you seen Van?"

The two women broke away from each other in surprise, but upon seeing Hitomi, they exchanged amused glances.

"Yes, dear. He's just gone to the older boys' bedroom" said Mrs Nakamura.

Kimiko had the most annoying smirk plastered on her face. "Hitomi, darling, do you have anything to tell me?"

Mrs Nakamura tried to hide a smile behind her hand as Hitomi flushed, but she wasn't successful.

"Er, I don't think I know what you mean" Hitomi stammered and turned to leave when Kimiko caught her elbow.

"Oh, no, you're not getting away that easily, missy!" she laughed. "Tell me. Is this Van boy who I think he is?"

Hitomi bit her lip and wondered for a short moment whether or not to tell the truth, but she eventually nodded, blushing a darker red. Kimiko squealed.

"I knew it wasn't as hopeless as you said!"

Hitomi smiled. "You're right. It's not hopeless. But it's not perfect either. Do you mind if I go to him now? He's probably waiting for me..."

"Nah, no problem. Right, Mrs Nakamura?"

The old woman shook her head fervently. "No, of course not. Go have a great time with your beau... If you had told me that he wasn't just anybody, I would have treated him much better than I did!"

Hitomi laughed, even though she felt a little bit embarrassed. She gave one last smile to Kimiko and was just about to go when she saw that something wasn't quite right with the student.

"Kimiko, are you all right?" she asked worriedly, for the first time noticing that her smile didn't reach the young woman's eyes.

Kimiko shrugged. "Just some family problems. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I am. Go now before he gets impatient!"

She went.

Entering the room Hitomi felt a strong feeling run through her chest upon seeing Van sit on one of the beds, surrounded by various items. She felt guilty for leaving him and for giving him so little of her time while he was here probably only for a week or two at the most. It seemed as if her only chance at happiness was being slowly taken away because of her own choices.

'Or maybe' she thought dryly, 'I shouldn't be so melodramatic and just apologise and try to make the most out of what I've got.'

Van put what he was holding away – it was some kind of a brown package – and looked up at her. She squirmed under his gaze.

"Did you have fun?"

"Van, I'm sorry! It was really important... Her dad had problems with his heart and now he won't wake up...And Yukari's so - "

"All right, all right!" he interrupted her. "I understand."

She stared. "You do?"

"Why shouldn't I? I would think I'm intelligent enough to understand when something's important to you. And this Yukari, is it? She's your best friend, right?"

Hitomi swallowed. "But you are as much... if not more important to me and I just... did what I did."

He looked sideways and there was something odd about the way he played with his hands. "I'll live, I think."

She flopped herself next to him on the bed and sighed. "I'm still sorry, though."

"It's okay. Stop killing yourself."

There was a moment of silence and Hitomi looked around to keep her mind off the awkwardness of her current situation. She saw several shirts and a pair of trousers, not so neatly folded in a pile at the other end of the bed, as well as some strangely-looking objects made of a glittering metal. There was a dagger in a leather, elaborately decorated sheath, the package she'd seen earlier and finally, lying across the quilt, there was Van's sword.

She squinted her eyes at the weapon and frowned. Something was wrong. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it seemed kind of off...Without thinking, she reached out and took it in her hands. It was heavier than she remembered. Confused, she grasped the handle and unsheathed it.

There was no Fanelian crest on the blade.

Hitomi stared at it in bewilderment. It could only mean that it wasn't the Fanelian royal sword.

"Van?"

"Yes?"

"Where is your sword?"

Van turned so suddenly that she almost jumped in surprise. His face was tight when he looked at her. "What do you mean, where is my sword? You're holding it."

"Va-n, don't play games with me" she whined. "I meant your real sword. The one with the Fanelian crest."

A muscle was working in his jaw and he looked unnaturally pale. "I left it back on Gaea. Didn't want anything to happen to it while I was here."

Hitomi wanted to ask more, but she decided not to, seeing as it seemed to be a sore spot for him. It was quite strange though, as she couldn't remember him ever going anywhere without his royal sword.

"Listen" Van said suddenly, obviously trying to change the topic. "I've been thinking that it's not really nice not to know what everybody is saying around me all the time.. So I thought that maybe you could teach me a little bit of your language, or something..."

She gave him a surprised stare. "Are you sure? Japanese is kind of difficult... We have three alphabets, you know..."

Van shrugged. "I don't need to know how to read or write it yet. I just need to know the basics. I mean, 'hello', 'who are you', 'my name is Van' and so on."

Hitomi laughed. "All right. Will do" she paused, remembering something. "Or rather, I'll try... I'm speaking Japanese right now and you understand all of it as if it's your language, right?"

Van nodded, comprehension dawning. "Darn. Maybe you should try speaking to me while concentrating on Japanese, not on comunication? If that makes any sense..."

She smiled. "It does. And I'll try."

She fixed him with a stare and commandered her features to stay put. He stared back, without blinking, his seriousness mirroring hers. The aura of solemnity surrounded them. She looked. He looked back. And they burst out laughing.

"That wasn't a good idea" Hitomi gasped between laughs. "Wait. I'll try again. This time seriously."

She closed her eyes and for a moment stayed still. Then, she opened her mouth and said, "I am Hitomi."

Van grimaced. Hitomi opened her eyes and looked at him. "And?"

He shrugged. "Didn't work. You need to try something else."

Hitomi sighed and closed her eyes again. She visualised herself talking to Van in rapid Japanese and him staring at her in bewilderment. She tried once more. "I am Hitomi Kanzaki."

He looked thoughtful when she opened her eyes, but shook his head no. Furrowing her brows, she glanced down and noticed the pendant she'd given him as a parting gift two years ago hanging around his neck. Her brain started working. 'This thing is responsible for many things' she thought excitedly. 'It wouldn't hurt to try if it works now as well...'

"Van, take off the pendant, will you?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Just do it. I have an idea."

He raised his eyebrows, lacking faith, but obeyed anyway. She tried for the third time. "Watashi wa Hitomi Kanzaki desu."(I am Hitomi Kanzaki.)

From the startled look on his face she assumed it had worked. She grinned. "Yatta!... Ano ne... watashi-ga iu anata-ga wakarimasu ka?" (Yay! Er... do you understand me?)

Van looked at her blankly so she made a face and motioned him to put on the pendant.

"It's useless" she said once she was sure he could understand her. "You'd have to take it off every time I needed to tell you how to say something."

He was looking at her intently, his cheeks flushing up a bit. "It was nice to hear you speak that way. So... melodious."

She grinned. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

* * *

**A/N:** The Japanese in here might be wrong, though I'm fairly sure it's okay... But I did fumble a bit with my research before I managed to the 'understanding' part. The introduction was fairly simple :D. Hope you liked it. I'm finally reaching the beginning of the plot... So there's still a bit to go before it gets better... 


	6. Chapter Five

**

* * *

**

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

_By Kiki Smith

* * *

Chapter Five_

Morning, to Dilandau's surprise, came very quickly considering that he'd hardly slept a wink, choosing instead to spend the night on fruitless brooding and staring stupidly at the ceiling. Being tied to a bed with strong leather straps didn't leave you with lots of options – it was too uncomfortable to sleep and too impossible to move. Furious beyond imagination, Dilandau remained on his back, with his arms and legs stretched, cursing everybody with every swear-word he could think of.

When the sun rose on the horizon and flooded the room with its cheerful rays, Dilandau was in the middle of deciding whether he was more hateful now than he'd ever been, or if the privilege still belonged to the moment when Van had marred his beautiful face with that iron excuse of a sword. Upon coming to a conclusion that at the moment he wasn't even breaching the edge of his proverbial pot of fury, he resigned himself to waiting. And wait he did.

The arrival of Daisuke the hospital attendant found him at the verge of despair.

Which, of course, he quickly proceeded to cross.

"Why in fuck's name did you tie me to this blasted bed!" he lashed out, trashing furiously on said piece of furniture. Daisuke glanced at him with ill disguised suspicion, clearly annoyed.

"You attacked your dad" he said, closing the door behind him and walking over to Dilandau. "Man, that was really ugly! Why the hell did you do that, anyway?"

Dilandau growled. "He raised his hand on me."

This came as a surprise for Daisuke. "Really?"

"No one strikes Dilandau Albatou and expects to live without punishment."

"Right" said Daisuke after a moment of silence, flexing his fingers. "How about I tell you the agenda for today? Right now I'll take you to the bathroom to clean up, then you'll eat something and then you've got a meeting with Dr Stenson at eleven, I think..."

Dilandau looked shrewdly at the man in the white uniform. "Does that mean you'll release me?"

"Yes" answered Daisuke, albeit very slowly. "But only if you swear to behave."

"Behave?" cried Dilandau incredulously.

"Yes, my dear Keiji" smiled Daisuke. "And that includes responding to your given name... Or Dr Maeda insists on it. I, personally, have no problem with calling you Dilandau" he shrugged. "A name's only a name, and as long as it serves its purpose you can call yourself Snow White for all I care."

"Fine" spat Dilandau, having no idea who Snow White was and seriously not giving a damn. "I swear I will behave."

"Great!"

The attendant, with no further ado, began unbuckling the leather belts on Dilandau's legs and wrists. Once free, the albino immediatelly started to rub the numbness away. Daisuke moved cheerfully around the room, searching for something, and finally, when Dilandau could almost feel his feet again, he pulled out something very strange-looking from behind the aparature. Apparently it was more complicated than it looked, because after a series of movements Daisuke produced an odd chair on wheels out of it and brought it over to the bed.

"What's that?"

"A wheelchair. It's for the patients to move around the hospital."

"Can't I just walk?" Dilandau asked, eyeing the contraption with distrust.

"No" snickered Daisuke. "You're way too weak for walking. Besides, think about it. It's really fun to be moved around by others."

Dilandau's reddish eyes turned to him in disgust. "I doubt it."

"Right. Come on, get on! We don't have the time for dawdling."

Dilandau, seeing no way out of it, stood up, not sure if he could keep his balance. Fortunately his feet had partially regained their strenght and he was able to keep steady enough not to sway as he moved to sit on the wheelchair.

"Feet on the platform, please" Daisuke instructed, and Dilandau immediatelly complied. "Now, off to the bathroom with us!"

He pushed and the wheelchair began moving towards the door. It didn't take them a lot of time to find themselves in the corridor, and once they turned right, it was less than a minute before they reached the bathroom.

It was a rather large, sterile white room with tiled walls and floor. There were four doors on the left and four washbasins on the right. Alongside them, however, there was another door, and behind it Dilandau saw four identical cabins with strange metal objects hanging from the ceiling. And across, a new row of basins and a huge looking glass.

Immediatelly upon seeing his reflection, Dilandau knew that something was horribly wrong. Everything seemed to be the same: his hair was still silvery white, eyes still held a red hue and skin was still incredibly pale... The thing that didn't match was the scar.

It was gone.

* * *

The sun was shining furiously from outside the window, the sunrays falling right on Hitomi's desk. Altogether the morning seemed really cheerful, and the weather decided to match its joyousness with a perfectly blue sky and the lack of the crisp wind that had settled itself permanently into the October landscape. Hitomi, though, wasn't as cheerful as she should have been, her eyes not leaving Yukari. The redhead was sitting on her right, playing absentmindedly with a pencil.

Hitomi sighed. Her heart ached when she thought about what Yukari must be going through right now, yet she wasn't sure she was able to help. What did one say in such a situation? Words failed her, but it wasn't so bad. After all, words are not as important as actions... The only problem was that Hitomi didn't know what to do either.

She supposed that it was really out of her hands. Unless Yukari openly asked for her help, there was nothing she could do. It was impossible for her to bring Mr Uchida back to health, so she reluctantly settled for gentle support and trying to distract her friend from the problem at hand.

"Yukari?" she asked, smiling softly. "You okay?"

The redhead smiled back and nodded. "I'm fine. Just... You know."

"I know... if there's anything I can..."

"It's okay" said Yukari quickly. "I'll be all right. Don't worry."

Hitomi sighed once again. Just as she had thought. Yukari was trying to hide her emotions just as she had hidden them throughout their entire friendship. There was really nothing she could do.

Looking around the homeroom, she spotted the three girls several tables away, sitting together and giggling behind their hands. One of them, the one in the middle, had shockingly pink ribbons tied in her long dark hair. Hitomi turned back to look out the window, not really wanting to watch the three girlfriends laughing at their classmate's unfortunate hairstyle. She had more important things to worry about. Like Van, for example.

Her chest constructed at the lone thought of him leaving her and going back to Gaea. Frightened at her own reaction, she closed her eyes and slowly exhaled. She knew she loved him, of course, but she was shocked to find out just how strong her love for him was. Just now, she wanted to run all the way to the orphanage just to check if he was still there. His appearance on Earth was so surreal that she couldn't shake off the feeling that this whole situation was just a dream. And yet, he was here for real.

But someday he was going to go back. And she dreaded that day with every part of her being.

When the teacher arrived she forced herself to focus on the lesson, but the worry remained persistent in the back of her mind.

* * *

The tiled walls of the bathroom eachoed with Dilandau's shrill scream and Daisuke's startled yell. The albino scrambled from the wheelchair and ran to the looking-glass, clawing at his face in near-desperation. Almost sticking his face to the smooth surface, he watched with wide eyes as his fingers moved freely on his unmarred skin.

"My... scar..." he mumbled in disbelief. "It's... gone?"

Completely out of the blue, he started laughing.

The laughter turned into dry, uncontrolled sobs as he slid to the ground, still holding his cheek. Daisuke, having overcome his shock, immediatelly leapt to his side. "Dilandau? Are you all right?"

"How's that possible?" whispered Dilandau, ignoring him. "How's that fucking possible...?"

Hundreds of thoughts and images came rushing through his head; Van and his sword, the pain, the blood, the gash, the scar... all the disgusting reflections of his destroyed face... and the need for revenge, everything he lived for in the end... All that... gone?

It was unthinkable, preposterous. It couldn't be gone like that, it was just a hallucination.

Almost as if trying to see if he was right, he stood up and looked into the mirror once again. The scar wasn't there. As he stared perplexed at his reflection, a slow wide smile started to bloom on his lips.

"My face..." he murmured happily. "My beautiful face... But how...?"

A memory flashed in the back of his mind, showing a crying little girl. Something dark started seeping into his awareness, a thought... a possibility. Without caring about Daisuke's confused state, he tore the white shirt he'd been wearing over his head and threw it at the floor. Stepping closer to the mirror, he examined his right side, just over the hip. As he'd suspected, the thin white scar he'd had ever since his martial training several years ago was not there at all. Filled with wonder, he looked at his hands much more closely than before and noticed that they were smooth as a baby's. There was no sight of the callouses acquired from yielding swords and other weapons... After a quick scrutiny he was sure. All scars and footprints and all other signs of usage had disappeared. It was like his body was brand new.

Frowning at himself in the mirror, Dilandau slowly ingested the revelation, not really knowing what to think of it.

* * *

The sun was slowly descending into the west as Van sat outside, in the shade of a massive tree, keeping his eyes on the playing children and on the Nakamura woman, who was talking privately to a middle-aged couple. The man and woman, both equally small and sickly, threw occasional glances at him and the kids, not hiding their confusion as to who he was and what was he doing at the orphanage. He did his best at ignoring them, losing himself into the most satisfying action of brooding instead.

Hitomi had explained to him yesterday about adoption and foster families and he was still amazed by it. The concept of so many people willing to admit the children of strangers into their homes was completely baffling. On Gaea it was unheard of. The only exception from the rule he knew of was from his closest family – but it was his mother, a Draconian, who insisted on adopting Merle instead of passing her over to a craftsman for training. At first his father had protested, but relented in the end, for what Van was eternally grateful. He didn't want to know what he would do if it wasn't for Merle. She and Valgas were the only people dear to him when everyone else had left.

And at the moment he had nobody except Hitomi.

And if she chose to abandon him, he would be completely, absolutely and utterly alone.

A gust of cold wind ruffled the slowly reddening leaves above his head, but it was not the only reason for the chill that suddenly run down his spine. The thought of Hitomi leaving frightened him to the point where he could hardly think straight, but he would never admit it to anybody. Some part of his mind tried to assure him that she would never do that and that his fears were based on nothing, but to no avail. Dark thoughts kept creeping back.

'Why did I ever come here in the first place?'

'Because you wanted to be with her, you dumb ass' answered a grumpy voice. 'And now you're fretting over the most stupid of things, really.'

'What if it'll be too much? I can't impose on her like this...'

'She did the same to you, didn't she?'

'But it was me who dragged her to Gaea! And now I'm here of my own free will. It's not the same.'

'And she's happy you're here... She hugged you, she took your hand, she smiles at you all the time...'

'She won't be so happy when she finds out something's wrong...'

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind, but it wasn't so easy. Looking down, he caught sight of the pendant and the self-doubts started anew.

'Whatever was I thinking? How am I going to survive here? I don't even know the native tongue! I know nothing about life here. I can't always depend on other people... I can't always depend on Hitomi.'

He groaned angrily, burying his face in his hands and drawing the attention of Mrs Nakamura. He saw her glance at him worriedly, but he didn't think much of it, too preoccupied with what he was going through at the moment to notice that she kept looking over at him during her conversation with the potential parents, her brow furrowed.

'This suspense is killing me' he thought, nearly desperate. 'I need to do something.'

It was time for a definite course of action. Something to shake off the indecision in the air. Something to make the matters resolve themselves.

'I'm going to tell her' he decided suddenly. 'Right now.'

He scrambled to his legs and set off before he could talk himself out of it, never seeing the shocked and worried expression on Mrs Nakamura's face.

* * *

The bath passed without further incident (if one wasn't counting Dilandau's horror upon finding out that Daisuke intended to help him) and he was absolutely enthralled by the wonderful contraption called a shower. But when he was wheeled back to the ward, the dark thoughts about the strange state of his body invaded his mind with a vengeance. He vaguely heard Daisuke mention something about an appointment with a doctor and he was too confused and, hard to admit it, anxious, to protest.

For two hours he thought on nothing but his sudden appearance on the Mystic Moon and the mysterious disappearance of all of his bodily marks of existence, but he still failed to reach a passable conclusion. Frustrated beyond imagination, he snarled and hissed when Daisuke came back to wheel him over to the aforementioned appointment. The hospital attentant was, however, unperturbed, probably already used to Dilandau's behaviour.

Upon arrival at their destination, Dilandau was no further into answering his unending questions than he was in the bathroom.

They entered the room and Dilandau was surprised by an expensively furnished interior, the walls lined with shelfs, simply overflowing with books. Further in the back, by the window, there was a great desk with hundreds of drawers, made of some dark wood. In the middle stood a wingback armchair and a comfortable-looking sofa.

When they came in the owner of the room sat at the desk, but upon noticing them he immediatelly stood back and flashed them a dashing smile.

"You can leave him here, dear boy" he said to Daisuke cheerfully. He looked somewhat different from the other people here – he had dirty blond hair and blue laughing eyes and was much taller than any other man he'd seen in this place (not that he'd seen many). "Keiji, please sit down."

Daisuke went for the door. "I'll be back in an hour, Doctor Stenson" he said and disappeared.

Dilandau, seeing that the man took the armchair, decided to sit on the sofa. He looked expectantly at his companion, who couldn't be older than forty, perhaps, and waited. The man smiled at him warmly.

"My name is Doctor Frank Stenson, there's no doubt in that. But I hear that there's been a problem when it comes to your name...?"

Dilandau only narrowed his eyes at him.

"Very well then. What is your name?"

"Dilandau Albatou" said the albino, meeting the man's thoughtful gaze without emotion.

Something flashed in his mind but he dismissed it.

"I see" said the doctor speculatively. "You are aware that this name is not written in your documents, are you, Dilandau?"

He grit his teeth. "I'm sure I don't have any 'documents', as you call them, in here, as I've never been here before" he spat, barely controlling himself. "That's why whatever they are calling me is total bullshit."

The expression on Stenson's face was unreadable. "What do you remember before waking up here, Dilandau?"

For a moment he didn't answer, not really sure if telling him anything would be a good idea, but in the end decided that he was the most sensible person he'd met since waking up and he might as well try to filch some information out of him. This meant he had to at least appear as if doing what he wanted him to do.

"I was at war... Fighting in my guymelef... with Van..."

"Van? I think I heard that name before. Who is he?"

"He's the Dragon" hissed Dilandau angrily. "The one Emperor Dornkirk wanted destroyed... He scarred my beautiful face..."

His hand immediatelly went to his cheek and upon finding his flesh unmarred, he flinched as if he'd just been burned. "That's not important."

"Go on then. You were fighting Van. And what happened then? Did you lose?"

"No!" snarled Dilandau, but quickly caught himself. "Then it happened again... my... illness."

"Your illness?"

"Yes. I had visions... of a small girl, crying. And then my body started changing... and I felt pain. And then darkness. And then I woke up."

Doctor Stenson looked at him pensively. "Your body started changing?"

He didn't answer because he was suddenly overwhelmed with a vision of Celena, lying on a bed and crying and then he remembered himself sneaking into the forbidden part of the palace and perusing the documents of himself in the magicians' study.

"I was... imprisoned in a body of a little girl. Kidnapped when she was five... when I was five."

Doctor Stenson seemed to listen even more carefully. "I do not understand, I must admit."

"The magicians... No" he buried his face in his hands and exhaled sharply. "I don't understand myself."

The long serious face of the chief magician appeared before his eyes, staring at him through the spectacles on his thin nose. He was five, small and frightened, aching all over his sensitive body.

"Dilandau? Are you still here?"

"What...?"

"Dilandau? Are you all right?"

"_Your name is Dilandau Albatou."_

"Dilandau?"

"_Your name is Keiji Yamashita."_

They were doing it all over again. Experimenting with him. Putting him into another body, using him... But who was he? No. He had no time for questions. He had to run. He had to leave and hide before the history repeated itself.

He stood up but suddenly the world began to spin and his breath started coming in short gasps. In a matter of seconds he lost his balance and fell to the floor, unconscious.

* * *

It took him only about an hour to reach Hitomi's school, which was quite a feat in itself, as she always used that train contraption to get there and it was, he had to admit, a quick way of travelling. On his way there, he relayed mostly on his memory from when Hitomi had showed him around and helped himself with the imaginary pendant a couple of times when he wasn't sure the route he took was the right one. When he finally saw the unmistakable shape of Hitomi's school he faltered.

'What if she doesn't want to see me here?'

'Then you'll have your answer' said a dark voice within him.

In a couple of quick strides he reached the iron gate and pushed it open. The area was deserted apart from an older man sweeping the brick path with a broom. Van ignored him and headed straight for the back of the building, where he hoped to find Hitomi. She had explained her schedule to him before she departed and from what he understood at the moment she was supposed to be practising her running skills with her teacher and with other men and women from her track class. He was a bit concerned about other men seeing her in those miniscule clothes he remembered from her trip to Gaea and the knowledge that it was completely normal here didn't make him any less jealous. He shook his head.

'She's not yours' he reminded himself. 'But she took my hand. And didn't protest when I hugged her' another part of him argued. 'It's nothing. She kissed Allen, remember? And she didn't marry him when he asked her.'

'Good point' he thought ruefully. These conversations had been frequent since he god the idea of coming here. There wasn't an hour of preparations that passed without at least three doubts about Hitomi's reaction to him. At one point he had even been certain that she would laugh and mock him and then leave him alone without any help or support. That was the worst option. The best turned out to be true – she had thrown herself into his arms almost the moment she saw him. There was only the problem of keeping the best option up to date. And the thing he was going to tell her would probably set it quite a way back.

'Oh, stop it, you stupid idiot. It's not as if you killed anyone! You're overreacting. She's not going to hate you for it.'

'But she might think less of me... She might think I'm not a man to leave my... No. I'm not going to think of it right now.'

He heard a whistle and turned around. There weren't a lot of people here either, but it was a considerably larger amount. They were all gathered further in the back, on the red pitch with the long white stripes. All of the young men and most of the girls wore the skimpy outfit Hitomi called a T-shirt and bloomers, but some of the female part of the group was gathered at the stands and wore the uniform Hitomi had worn throughout her stay on Gaea.

He came closer, trying to spot her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Disconcerned, he walked over to the stands and sat down, cursing his inability to understand Japanese.

There was another whistle and the people moved away from the red and white stripes, four girls remaining and kneeling upon the ground in a very funny way.

He furrowed his brows. Where was Hitomi?

He heard a giggle and some Japanese right behind him and he turned around in surprise. Three of the uniform-clad girls sat down next to him, grinning. One of them, the one with long black hair tied with pink sparkling ribbons, beamed at him and waggled her eyebrows. She started speaking, but he, of course, didn't understand a word.

He shrugged and shook his head. The girl didn't seem to get it, though. Her grin got wider and her behaviour became more daring. Van watched in shock as she moved closer and pushed him playfully on the arm, using her other hand to twirl her hair.

He swallowed. She was way too close for his comfort, but he didn't want to offend her. How should he know whether or not it was a custom here on the Mystic Moon? What if it was? He didn't want to draw attention to himself, for Hitomi's sake.

He couldn't carry on with staying silent, though, because the girl was talking like a chatter box and she would probably require some answer from him soon.

"I can't speak Japanese" he managed to say, accenting the name of the language. The girl stopped speaking and looked at him oddly. After a moment she started stuttering in the other language Hitomi had told him about – Englash or something.

He shook his head apologetically, but a second later he was struck with a sudden idea. He delved into the pocket of his jacket and took out the piece of paper with Hitomi's name written in her alphabet. She wrote it down for him during yesterday's failure of a lesson. He gave it to the girl with a raised eyebrow.

She read Hitomi's name aloud and gasped. She exchanged glances with her friends and they all stared at him with badly disguised surprise. After an uncomfortable moment one of them called out to the group of people on the pitch. Van waited with a fluttering sensation in his stomach, but it was a man who answered, not Hitomi. He was much older than the rest, with bushy brown beard and moustache. He stepped closer and started speaking to him angrily, but the girls stopped him and probably explained that he couldn't understand Japanese. Hitomi's name was mentioned once again and the man – most probably the teacher – looked at him oddly, not dropping the glare.

The teacher turned around and called her. Van held his breath.

But what happened next was really not what he'd hoped for.

* * *

Yukari's father was in no better shape than before. Just after school, not staying for any extracurrical activities, she had been picked up by her mother and the two of them headed to Tokyo, straight to the hospital, only stopping to grab something to eat at the first floor canteen.

They sat and watched the patriarch of the family sleep and listened to the eery beeping of his heartbeat for nearly an hour, occassionally commenting something that had happened during the day. Finally, when she couldn't take it anymore, Yukari decided to go to the bathroom for a change of scenery.

She stepped into the blindingly white hall and rubbed her eyes tiredly. Just when she was about to turn on her heel and walk to the stairs, the nearby doors opened and a head appeared, peeking from behind them.

Yukari stared.

'Holy damn!' she swore in her mind. 'It's that albino!'

Even though she was a bit afraid after all she'd heard about his dangerous behaviour, she couldn't take her eyes off of him. The little of him that she could see made her gawk as if she'd never seen a handsome boy before. The impossibly fair hair falling on his pale forehead, the sharp angles of his face and the bare arm on the surface on the door – they all for some unfogged reason made her shiver like a leaf in the wind.

'What is happening to me?' she managed to think before he turned and looked straight at her. She stared back with the expression of a frightened rabbit and was surprised to see him smirk.

"Well, well, well" he drawled. "And who do we have here?"

"Erm..." she stammered. "The name's Yukari. And you are?"

"Dilandau. Nice to meet you, Yukari" he mocked. She bristled.

"Shouldn't you be staying in your bed?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"I decided to take a stroll" he answered calmly, and as if to illustrate the point, he stepped out of the room completely and closed the door. She got a perfect look at his physique. He was pretty tall, towering over her by several inches, rather lithe and slim (but not thin like most boys his age) and with strong, very pale arms. He wore a blood red T-shirt, black track suit trousers and inconspicious trainers, probably an attire used for rehabilitation.

She didn't notice him raise his almost white eyebrow and was surprised to hear him speak.

"Like what you see, Yu-ka-ri...?" he said, syllabising her name and somehow giving it some kind of a sensual twist that made her blush scarlet. She refused to be intimidated by him, though.

"And if I did?"

He looked at her with more interest and for a moment she thought that maybe he also did like what he saw when his expression changed. "Well, too bad" he laughed. "I'm not interested in silly girls like you."

For some reason, she became disappointed and relieved at the same time. The confusion resulted in severe agitation and she lashed out on him.

"Oh, is that so? Well, _too_ _bad_" she mocked, "because even if you were, I would never want to have anything to do with such a psychopatic freak like you."

Something in his look made her think that it was a really bad move. She became sure of that when he moved over to her in two quick strides.

"You think I'm a freak, don't you? And _what _precisely do you know about me?" he hissed, closing the space between them. She got a good look at his reddish eyes, framed by a row of fair eyelashes, at the extreme paleness of his skin and at his mouth, twisted into a scowl.

"Not much, is it?" he continued when she didn't answer, behaving like the situation amused him greatly. "I wouldn't make assumptions about other people if I were you."

She supposed that it was a good advice, but it was way too late to apply it here. By now she wished she'd stayed in the room with her parents for a while longer so she wouldn't be stuck in this weird situation.

She was about to mutter an apology and quickly leave the hospital when she heard footsteps.

"Hey! Just what are you doing out of your bed, Keiji?" Natsuki yelled in indignation, making her way over to them.

Several things happened in quick succession, all of them too fast for Yukari to stop. She was turned around sharply, pressed hard into the albino's chest and an arm snacked around her torso. Something cool touched the skin on her throat and her adrenaline level soared.

"I told you not to call me that!" Dilandau yelled and his voice took on a strained edge. The cool thing pressed deeper into her throat, choking her.

With wide eyes she looked at Natsuki, who stopped dead in her tracks, staring open-mouthed and shocked into silence. She quickly put herself together, though.

"Listen here, Dilandau, let her go because if you won't you'll be very sorry all right!"

The albino laughed and a shudder ran through Yukari's body when she heard the chilling sound. Her fear intensified.

Suddenly the door screeched open and Leiko Uchida came into the hall, with a question dying on her lips. "My God, Yukari!" she shrieked.

The albino yanked her away and tightened the grip on her arms. Her legs almost gave out underneath her weight from fear.

"I'll let her go" he said huskily, "but only if you let me out of this place. If not..." here he paused for good measure, "I'll kill her."

Leiko let out another yelp. Yukari gasped and only his arms prevented her from falling to her knees.

"Listen now" Natsuki said, visibly changing tactics. "There's no need for any killing. We can deal with this mess without the violence."

Dilandau's incredulous laugh sounded like he thought Natsuki was mental. And that was probably the case. His hold of her was starting to hurt and she was sure that if she survived this, she would have bruises all over her arms. She wondered how she would explain them to Hitomi.

Then suddenly Doctor Maeda rounded the corner and shot a quizzical look at the group. "Is there some kind of a problem here, Natsuki dear?"

The nurse swallowed. "This mister here is keeping Yukari hostage because he doesn't want to go back to bed."

"Now, now" Doctor Maeda said with a smile. "This isn't a way to treat a lady, Mr Yamashita. Shame on you, really."

Yukari grimaced when Dilandau clasped his bony fingers on her shoulder. "Is this place filled with idiots!" he shouted. "I told you my name's Dilandau Albatou, not this gibberish!"

"And I told you repeatedly that you were called that only in your dream" the doctor answered pleasantly, "and now, since you've woken up, your name is Keiji Yamashita. Mamoru, Daisuke, your help, please!"

Dilandau whirled around with Yukari and she saw two white-clothed hospital attendants round up on them. Her heart almost gave out when she felt the cool object poke into her throat, but when nothing happened to her skin, she calmed down a notch. The attendants grabbed him by the arms and he was forced to release her, although the fight he put on brought her another couple of bruises. The taller of the attendants got hit squarely in the jaw, the other one took on a punch in the stomach, but they managed get a hold of his wrists. One of them took out of his hand what appeared to be a ball-point pen.

"That's my pen!" Daisuke exclaimed upon seeing it.

"I'm afraid, Mr Yamashita" said Doctor Maeda gravely, "that in this circumstances we'll have to tie you to your bed, again. You not only go against my orders, but you also steal... Your mother won't be happy with that."

"To hell with that bitch!" Dilandau wheezed, obviously tired from the escapade. "I have no mother, damnit!"

Yukari walked over to her own mother on gelly legs. Leiko threw her arms around her. "Yukari, my baby!" she mumbled in relief. "We're going back home together. I'm not letting you out of my sight tonight, no way!"

Yukari nodded, still too shaken to notice what was happening around her. When Leiko dragged her away, her eyes unvoluntarily fixed on Dilandau, mixed feelings making a chaos out of her mind.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for making you wait all this time... I hope it was worth it, although I'm not really sure about this chapter... The plots are just beginning to appear and it's really frustrating that it's all coming together so slowly... And I'm sorry for making the characters so out of character XD I can't get them to behave more like themselves, unfortunately...

To those who were curious, my first language is Polish.

And to all my reviewers - THANK YOU! I'm again very sorry for not updating earlier or more regularly... But it's a real accomplishment that I'm so far into this story anyway, so I'm very optimistic about writing more of it. :)

Till the next time!


	7. Chapter Six

* * *

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

_By Kiki Smith_

_

* * *

_

Chapter Six

'D'you see that guy?' asked one of Hitomi's trackmates. 'He's not from Kamakura, is he?'

Curious, Hitomi turned around, but her view was cut off by the broad back of her coach. Standing on her toes, she tried to peek over his shoulder, but his almost seven feet frame was way too much for her to fight with. Resigned, she shrugged and turned to resume her warm-up.

There was some kind of a commotion, but she wasn't really interested, having already switched her mind back to the task at hand – running. She had already beaten the thirteen seconds barrier and was now working on further reducing her time and doing a smashing job at it, too. Stretching her legs, she smiled joyously – this was definitely something she loved.

She was brought back from her thought-land by the voice of her coach.

'Kanzaki! Come here right now!'

Bemused, she stood up and turned. And that's when she saw him – Van was sitting on the stands, together with the three little bimbos from her homeroom, the one with pink ribbons wearing a very peculiar smile.

Hitomi blinked, wondering if she was having hallucinations. What was Van doing here, if he was supposed to be at the orphanage?

'Van?' she said in disbelief.

'Oh, so you know the boy, then?' asked the coach angrily. 'Don't you remember that the school grounds are off bounds for outsiders? Why did you bring him here?'

'I - ' she faltered. 'I didn't bring him here, sir!'

'Then why is he here?'

'I don't know!' she cried.

'Then I suggest you find out immediately and tell him to leave.'

'Yes, sir' she said meekly and quickly ran to the stands. She heard the coach order the others to continue their exercises, but she could still feel their eyes on her back.

Van stood up and walked down to the pitch with a tentative smile.

'Hey.'

'What are you doing here?' she asked, breathless. 'I told you I would be back in the afternoon!'

'I... Well, I wanted to talk to you about something important...'

'Van... this really is not the best time! You are not allowed here, and my coach is furious with me already and my classmates will pester me endlessly about you!'

His brow furrowed. 'So what? You should ignore them, it's none of their business.'

'Van, they will eat me alive! Yukari will kill me if I don't tell her...'

'So tell her. I don't see a problem. She's your best friend, right?'

'But I don't _want_ to tell her!' Hitomi cried. 'Can't you understand? It was all supposed to be a secret, but now you've come here and now everybody knows you exist!'

He was silent for a moment, getting angrier with each passing second.

'So' he said finally. 'You don't want anybody to know about me?'

'Yes! Why are you making this so hard for me? You'll be gone in a few days and I'll stay here with all of this mess. Can't you see it'd be so much simpler if it was a secret?'

'Fine!' he yelled suddenly, startling her. 'Fine!'

He turned on his heel and started walking briskly towards the exit. After a few meters he broke into a run. For a moment she wanted to follow him and she would have, if Yukari hadn't reached her in time.

'Hitomi!' she gasped. 'It was... It was that guy, wasn't it! The one you...'

'No' she cut sharply. 'Please don't ask, Yukari. Please...'

The red-head faltered. 'Oh... Okay, I won't.'

'Kanzaki, if you are finished, get back here!'

Hitomi bit her lip, not sure about the pain she was feeling in her chest and if what she did had been the right thing to do, and then turned and ran back to the others.

* * *

Van's feet took him up the hill without his brain noticing, his mind occupied with what had just happened, thoughts running literally rampant. His chest felt as if it was going to explode and completely destroy what was left of his heart.

He ran blindly forward and upon reaching the forest-surrounded shrine, he almost fell to his knees, just managing to sit down on a bench. Panting, he griped the bench in his hands, desperately wishing for something to tear, to throw, to destroy. Left with nothing, he reached under his shirt and tried to yank the pink pendant that hung around his neck, before collecting himself barely enough to refrain from smashing it to pieces.

'So this is it' ran through his head as he looped the chain between his trembling fingers. 'I shouldn't have come here! I shouldn't have thought she would be different. Love is just a silly word, after all.'

His eyes burned. It was anger beyond words. 'How could she just... treat me like a thing? Like I was some dark little secret that has to be hidden! Is that a way to treat someone you love? No it's not, damnit!'

Van closed his eyes, trying to fight off the bitter memory of her words, but to no avail. It just came back, time after time after time, cutting off his breath and dominating his mind.

_This really is not the best time!_

He shook his head violently. Best time for what, exactly? For being there, for coming to her, for thinking about her, for trying to tell her what had been gnawing at him for the past days? For trying to tell her that he'd...

_...it'd be so much simpler if it was a secret..._

A secret! A goddamn secret! He felt like a fool. Coming here must have been the worst mistake of his life, a one that he had no way of erasing. She clearly didn't love him. She didn't even respect him enough to treat him like a fellow human being. Yes, she liked to have him around, all right. She liked to hold his hand or look deeply into his eyes. But that was it.

Would she be able to help him, when he needed her? This was a different matter than the war. He needed a different kind of help, in some ways much more difficult to provide. Would she do it?

'Probably not' he thought darkly. 'I'll have to just count on myself again, won't I?'

He exhaled ruefully, trying to quell the ache in his chest. 'Right. I need a plan. First, I have to leave the orphanage. I can't see her again... I'll just tell her everything and she'll try to help...'

Secondly, he had to think about the language problem. He couldn't do anything without knowing the language. No language meant no work, no money, no place to stay and nothing to eat. But how to learn it? When there was nobody to teach him?

For a moment he was tempted to turn around and chuck it all to hell – the plan went horribly wrong and there was virtually nothing he could do about it. His lone hope died away along with Hitomi's words and now he was alone. 'The bitch!'

His breath stopped for a moment and he couldn't think straight. Did he just...? Did he just call her...? But, but she was...

'Aaargh!' he shouted in despair, clawing at his hair. He could not think about it – there were graver problems to solve.

He looked up, for the first time, and took in his surroundings. Wondering what kind of a god people prayed to here in this strange world, he thought forcefully, 'Please, let me find a way to learn the language.'

He was startled by a light coming from his clasped fist.

The pendant was glowing.

* * *

When Hitomi came to the orphanage, with every intention of apologizing for her behaviour and trying to make him understand why she didn't want to flash him around, she was shocked beyond imagination to find him absent. Panicked, she ran to his room and upon finding his stuff still there, relaxed considerably. Bemused, she figured that he probably went for a walk, bored out of his skull and still angry at her. Not really knowing where to look for him, she toyed with the idea of trying to find his location via her skills, but decided not to, thinking that he would probably be even angrier if she were to intrude on his private time and space.

Instead, she busied herself with helping Mrs Nakamura with the children, as there was twice as much work as normally – courtesy of Kimiko, who failed to appear.

'She has some family issues to solve. She'll be back when she's ready' answered Mrs Nakamura when Hitomi asked her about it and it was obvious that she should not press the matter.

So she spent the afternoon slaving herself on alternatively doing the laundry and wiping runny noses and listening to complainings, all the time becoming more worried as the hours passed and it became clear that Van was not coming back any time soon. She stayed around until nine and left when it was absolutely necessary for not being late home and not raising any suspicions. After arriving, she locked herself in her room and tried to find him through every way possible – by reaching her mind to him and by staring intently at a map of Kamakura, to name a few – but all of her attempts proved to be futile.

Resigned, she cried herself to sleep, thinking that he must have left – gone back to Gaea, too angry and hurt to have said goodbye.

* * *

'Van.'

Hitomi opened her eyes and blinked sleepily. She knew the voice calling out, but she couldn't place it anywhere in her mind. She looked around. The room she was in was dark and cluttered. Dozens of little things covered the frivolously designed furniture, gathering dust. The window was wide open, with fluttering curtains and moonlight crawling inside from two large gleaming orbs that hanged in the sky.

Hitomi smiled. There was only one place she could be.

She took a step forward and reached out to touch a stone figurine of a bird when something caught her attention. Her hand was transparent.

'Wha-?' she gasped, but was immediately silenced by someone clearing their throat.

'Van, we came to say good bye' said a pleasant woman's voice. 'From what you said you don't have much time left.'

Hitomi whirled around. The woman had fine wavy blonde hair reaching past her shoulders and was wearing an elaborate evening dress. It was not Millerna, but yet she seemed familiar somehow... Those big hooded blue eyes, and that wistful smile stirred something in Hitomi's chest. She shook her head and looked at Van. He was standing by the bed with his hands inside a bag and his head bowed. She noted that he was wearing the same black trousers and green sleeveless shirt he had had on the day he came to Earth.

'No, I don't have much time, you're right.' He moved to face the blonde. 'I want to leave as soon as possible.'

It was apparent that his temper was even shorter than normal. He gave the woman a levelled look, as if trying to make her get the hint.

'You have to forgive us' said a man calmly. He came out of the shadows and stopped next to the woman. Hitomi's jaw dropped to her knees. It was Allen. Without his Knight of Caeli armor and with his hair cut to his shoulder-blades and tied back into a ponytail.

'Celena and I are going to miss you' he said with a smile, 'that is all.'

'Celena!' Hitomi's mind shouted and suddenly everything fell into place. 'She's matured so much...'

'I'm sorry' Van sighed and abandoned his packing. He pointed to some chairs next to a table. 'Have a seat.'

Hitomi watched as the unlikely trio seated themselves around the table and Van poured pink vino into three glasses.

'I know I'm asking for the thousandth time, but are you sure what you're doing?' asked Allen after taking a sip.

Van snorted. 'Of course I'm sure. Do you think I'd do it if I wasn't sure?'

Allen gave him a pointed look and Van's expression turned sheepish.

'That was different.'

'Oh, really? How so?'

Van crossed his arms. 'I thought I picked the lesser evil.'

'Leave him be, brother' Celena said, grinning. 'He did what he had to, even if he has been miserable for nearly a year because of that.'

Van scoffed. 'I'm going to fix it soon enough. And it would be sooner if you didn't decide to stalk me.'

'Van' Allen said patiently. 'You are our friend and you are leaving us. It's almost certain that we will not see each other ever again. You have to allow us to spend these last moments with you.'

Van looked away. 'Not necessarily the last, you know. I can visit.'

'But will you want to?'

'Of course I will' Van's face was hard. 'Don't doubt it.'

'We won't' Celena said, half-smiling. 'Now, when are you leaving?'

'As soon as I pack.'

'A lot of things left?'

Van grinned. 'A pair of trousers, a jacket and a sword.'

Allen raised his eyebrows. 'Do you really need a sword on the Mystic Moon?'

Van shrugged. 'You never know.'

Celena laughed. 'I have something for you.' She leaned sideways and opened a bag Hitomi hadn't realised she had.

Van looked at her curiously. 'What is it?'

She smirked, not raising her head. 'A farewell present. But you have to promise that you won't open it until you're there.'

He chuckled and shook his head. 'All right, I promise.'

'Good.'

Hitomi watched as Celena fumbled with an oddly-shaped package and was surprised to see the blonde slip a yellow envelope inside. With a bright smile she straightened and gave the package to Van.

'Thank you' he said warmly.

'That's the least I could do.'

'We'll be there if something goes wrong and you have to go back' said Allen.

'Let's hope it won't come to that' Van said darkly.

'We'll pray that it does not happen, won't we, brother?'

Allen nodded. 'Of course.'

Out of the blue Hitomi felt a sinking sensation in her stomach and the scenery changed. She suddenly found herself floating over the orphanage and then falling, right through the ceiling and the attic, to finally stop in Van's room. He was there, furiously packing his belongings into the bag and then throwing it over his shoulder and storming outside. In the main room, he shot a dark look at a bemused Mrs Nakamura and said in Japanese:

'I'm going away. Tell Hitomi I'm gone.'

With that he strode through the door and disappeared. She tried going after him, but a sudden sunray blinded her and she screamed in panic. 'VAN!'

She woke up in sweaty sheets, clutching a pillow and crying. The sun was just beginning to rise outside the partway curtained window and it was looking to be another crisp, windy day.

Hitomi, not paying any attention to the weather, or giving the dream she'd just had a rational though, hastily jumped out of the bed, threw some clothes on her back and ran out of the house.

* * *

It was early morning when Van returned to the orphanage to take back his things.

After the pendant had stopped glowing, nothing happened, so he put it on and spent the next few hours sitting on the same bench, deep in thought. Most of what he thought about corresponded with his dark mood, and just like his mood, it didn't have a definitive conclusion. When it got dark, he decided to finally move around and proceeded to wander aimlessly around the town. He didn't feel any hunger, the pain in his chest obscuring every other sensation.

When he finally decided to go back, he was sure that he would be able to avoid seeing Hitomi, as it was highly unprobable that she would be there at this ungodly hour. He sneaked into the house, hoping to avoid that Nakamura woman as well, but he was clearly out of luck.

'Where have you been!' she hissed upon noticing him. 'I won't tolerate such behaviour if you are to live here!'

He was struck dumb. He could understand every word as if it was his own language! His prayer must have been answered! He felt a huge weight lift itself from his shoulders. So it was going to be easier, after all...

He ignored the matron, not wanting to draw anymore attention to himself, and went straight for his room to collect his things. He was almost finished when he heard a commotion outside and several seconds later the door opened and Hitomi rushed inside, her eyes wide and cheeks flushed.

'Van!' she cried with obvious relief. 'You're here!'

He closed his eyes, trying to fight off the flash of pain that passed through him.

'I...' she said quietly. 'I need to... I need to tell you something. Can we talk?'

He took a deep breath. 'All right.'

* * *

'Please close the door.'

Hitomi complied immediately, feeling apprehension swell inside of her stomach. Something bad was about to happen – she could sense it, even if she didn't know why. Hundreds of thoughts ran through her mind as she walked the short distance between the door and his bed and as she sat on it, all the time keeping her watchful eyes on his face. His gaze was averted, staring inside rather than at the room around him and she couldn't for the name of her figure out what was really troubling him.

'Van' she said with tentative concern. 'I... I'm sorry about what happened on the pitch... You... you surprised me and I wasn't thinking what I was doing, really...'

He looked at her stonily. 'It's not a reason to shout at me and be ashamed of me.'

'What!' she gasped. 'I wasn't ashamed of you! I'm not ashamed of you! This is ridiculous!'

Van's expression hardened even more. 'Why were you so angry that your friends saw me, then?!'

'Because I don't know how to explain everything to them!'

'Can't you tell the truth?' he snarled, griping his trousers. 'Because that is being ashamed of me!'

Hitomi, to her utter panic, felt tears gather in her eyes. 'It's not!' she cried. 'How can they believe me, Van? My world is completely different from yours! People don't believe in magic anymore! They would think I was crazy if I told them you came here through a freaking beam of light!'

He didn't say anything, staring heatedly at his hands instead.

'Besides' she said quietly. 'What would I tell them once you were gone? That you came back to your world? I didn't know how long you would be staying here, and for all I knew, you could be gone by next week! I thought it would be better to keep it a secret...'

There was a long moment of silence and then Van lifted his head and looked at her with a strange glint in his eye.

'Why did you assume I would be gone so quickly?'

She shook her head. 'I don't know!'

'Why did you assume I would be gone at all, for that matter?'

She stared at him in confusion. 'What? Of course you'd be gone eventually, you have your responsibilities to Fanelia, and all of your friends are there...'

'Hitomi, I don't really have any friends.'

'Of course you have! What about Allen and Celena? And Millerna? And Merle!'

'Hitomi' he said seriously. 'Allen, Celena and Millerna are in Asturia and we see each other twice a year at most. And Merle... Merle is married, madly in love with her husband and will probably expect her first child very soon! A bunch of servants, advisors and samurai is not a good group to choose friends from.'

She bit her lip, not understanding anything at all.

'Valgas was the only person I was close to apart from Merle. And now they're both gone. Hitomi, I am alone. You are everything that I have left.'

She felt as if she was falling into complete surreality. What was he saying? What did it all mean? She heard his words but they didn't make sense at all.

'Van, I...'

'I am not going back to Gaea.'

That shook her out of her stupor. 'You what!'

'I am not going back. I came here to start again.'

'B-but!' she sputtered. 'What about Fanelia?'

'I abdicated' he said matter of factly. 'Well, after appointing a new king, of course... I chose the best of the best, I think... Besides, I suppose he would be crowned after my death, anyway. A change of dynasty would be inevitable.'

'But _why_?'

He shrugged. 'Because there would never be an heir.'

She was left speechless. Words evaded her for a full minute before she could muster enough coherence to voice her scattered thoughts.

'So you are staying... for ever?'

Van suddenly looked quite unlike his confident self – he dropped his eyes down and started playing with his fingers. 'Yes.'

For a moment she was ecstatic, happiness running through her like a waterfall, making her nerves tingle and her stomach flutter. He was staying! Even though she could still hardly wrap her mind around this startling concept, her head was flooded with hundreds of visions and imaginings – her and Van at university as boyfriend and girlfriend, introducing him to her parents as her future husband, getting married in a splendid ceremony, having a bunch of winged little angels...

She faltered and her brows unconsciously formed a deepening frown. It was all so impossible... Van would never get accepted into university, for starters! He didn't even know the language, not to mention was completely ignorant of every conceivable subject that could appear on entrance tests, besides, what would he study anyway? To be completely honest, she didn't even know what he was interested in, now that revenge on Zaibach was out of the way and running around in a guymelef didn't occupy half his time. With a sinking sensation, she realised she didn't know him at all. She had no idea what kind of a life he could lead on Earth... Thoughts of marriage were quickly discarded as impossible as well – her father would rather kill her than let her marry a stranger, a nobody who didn't have any prospects and who wouldn't be able to support her. Even children were out of the question – she didn't want to imagine what would happen if somebody got the wind of children with wings...

She heard Van clear his throat and immediately came back to the present. She opened her mouth to say something, even if she didn't really know what, but Van beat her to it.

'Listen... I have... a question for you. I don't want to press you into anything, that was never my intention. I want you to think about it and give me an honest answer. Will you help me find my way in this world?'

A sense of idignation rose inside of her. 'Of course I'll help you! What did you think...?'

'No' he said firmly. 'I want you to think about it and _then_ answer. This is not a simple matter. I won't let you treat me like you did today. So if you are unable to be honest, then I don't want your help.'

She didn't know what to say, just stared at him with tears forming in her eyes. 'Van...'

'Take as long as you want to' he said. 'I'm not going anywhere right now. Don't have anywhere to go to, anyway.'

'Van...' she tried again, but he just shook his head.

'Hitomi, please' he looked at her, his eyes so hard, that she couldn't do anything but leave without another word.

* * *

**A/N:** Huh, another couple of months passed by... I need to stop doing that. XD As for the chapter – it was my feeble attempt at angst and I'm not sure how it went. I know some of it was really confusing at first, but I hope now that Van's little secret is out everything makes sense. I'm concerned about the characterization, though... I'm striving for absolute realism here, but sometimes it evades me. Especially when it comes to Van and Hitomi. Dilandau is surprisingly easy to write xD. A propos, sorry for him not being in this chapter, but I wanted to finally clear the suspense between Van and Hitomi. I mean, before creating another one :P Dilly will definitely appear in the next chapter, once I get around to writing it.

Thank you for your wonderful reviews once again!


	8. Chapter Seven

* * *

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

_By Kiki Smith_

* * *

Chapter Seven 

It was early morning when Dilandau woke up because of the ache in his limbs. It was the third night he'd spent tied to his bed – the first time after attacking the man they said was his father, the second because he threatened that red-haired girl and the third for loosing his patience and hitting Daisuke straight into his face after the hospital attendant tried to force-feed him some disgusting white goo. Doctor Maeda had then announced that the straps wouldn't be taken off for the next twenty four hours. Which meant, in short, that he would be stuck to this godforsaken mattress until the end of the day.

The worst thing was that he couldn't come up with enough energy to be sufficiently furious and indignant. Too tired and too hungry, he slept restlessly for the entire night, dreaming nightmares about the magicians and Celena, and waking up with a startled jerk.

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. It hadn't changed since he'd last seen it, but its familiarity wasn't a welcome sight. Come to think of it, at the moment he wasn't exactly sure _what_ would actually be a welcome sight. The polluted sky of Zaibach? Probably. Maybe. But would it really? Was he really that eager to come back to that place, where his thoughts were haunted by visions of Celena? Where his body was not his own and his mind was manipulated by his enemies?

But here was no different. Another body. Another identity. Another person he had squashed by his mere presence.

A few years back he would have been ecstatic to know that he could occupy another human's body. He would envision it as the greatest form of evil, as a way to raise in the ranks of Zaibach soldiers and become Emperor Dornkirk's Right Hand Man. Yes, in capitals. And then, someday, after he'd gained enough knowledge and experience, he could possess the Emperor's body and become Emperor himself. And then everyone would listen to him, even the magicians.

Right now, though, lying in the hospital bed, he was wiser than that and he could see the major drawback of the plan.

He didn't have a body of his own.

Did a mind without a body actually count as a human being? If not, then what the hell was he? A creation of the magicians? If so, was his life really his to live? Did he really have a free will, was he free after all, or was it all just an elaborate illusion?

Cold fear swept over him. What was going to happen next? Would he start getting visions of Keiji Yamashita? Or would he just disappear?

'Why the fuck is this happening to me!' he thought in desperation. 'Why can't I just... Why can't I just... Just what? Disappear? I don't want to disappear! Why would I want to disappear? I want to live! I just want to... I just want to be... Oh, blast it.'

The door creaked and someone came into the room. Dilandau, too surprised and confused, forgot to pretend to sleep and, with a raised head, stared at the woman who thought she was his mother.

'You're awake' she said quietly. 'Good, I wanted to talk to you, if you don't mind.'

He didn't answer and she must have taken it for a 'no', because she closed the door and moved to sit in a chair next to the bed. She put her bag on the floor and folded her hands in her lap.

During the silence that followed, Dilandau watched her tired face as it morphed from uncertainity to anguish and into insecurity.

'I...' she said after a moment. 'I came here to apoligize. For your father's behaviour... and mine, too. I know it's difficult for you... After sleeping for so long... After dreaming for so long... To suddenly wake up and find everything different...' she choked on unshed tears and Dilandau stared at her with a foreign feeling in his chest. 'But you have to understand...' she continued in a strangled voice. 'That it's difficult for me too... It's... It's _difficult_ to see my only son wake up from a twelve year long coma and not remember me at all!'

'I'm not your son' he said firmly, even though his throat was weirdly uncooperative. 'Why can't you see it?'

She couldn't hold it much longer and burst into tears. Dilandau felt a sudden jerk inside of him and fell silent, not knowing what it meant.

'I know you're not my little son...' she half sobbed, half said. 'I know that I don't know you at all. You are a stranger, even if I... even if I don't want to admit it. I know you don't remember me. But you can't tell me you're not my son, when I've been coming here for the last twelve years and I saw you grow from a little boy into a young man!'

The last part she almost screamed into his face. When he didn't answer, she fell back into the chair and hid her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook as she cried and Dilandau watched her helplessly, feeling the strange emotion consume him. What was it, damnit? Why was he getting bothered by this woman and her stupid tears?

'I don't know what happened' she whispered after regaining some resemblance of control. 'But I'll try to make you remember.'

A sneer forced its way out, swiftly killing the unknown emotion. 'And how do you plan to do that?'

She didn't react, reaching instead for her bag and taking out a small brownish object and putting it in her lap.

It was a dog.

Dilandau's throat became dry in an instant. Before him was a very old and very used toy, a light brown soft dog made from furry fabric, with black button eyes and nose.

'Jajuka...' he uttered with difficulty the first thing that came to his mind, choking on the name, as if it couldn't go past his lips. His only friend, the only person who had ever cared for him, who in the end wanted him to disappear, to become Celena again, who preferred her to him and who was the sole reason he was where he was right now.

'This is your favourite toy' the woman's voice reached him from behind his thoughts. 'You've always loved dogs, but your father hated them, so you couldn't have a real one... I gave it to you for your fourth birthday. Fourteen months before the accident.'

She fell silent and he felt her watchful eyes on his face. He didn't turn his gaze from the toy, though. At first he didn't see anything and the dog looked just like an ordinary toy. But as the seconds passed by, it started to gain an air of familiarity and somewhere in the back of his mind, he could see it, sitting on a little wooden shelf, right next to a frame with a drawing...

He closed his eyes in panic. It was starting.

'Take it away!' he snarled without looking at her. 'I told you I'm not your son!'

She was persistent, though. 'Do you remember the kendo school? You loved it when your father let you watch as he taught his class. You had your own little wooden katana, didn't you? You liked to wave it around and scream and wanted to spar with everybody.'

'Please' he moaned, suddenly devoid of his strenght. 'Please stop... I don't want to go through this again...'

There was silence.

'What do you mean?'

'I don't want the memories! I don't want this shit again! All of my life, I saw hers and each time they came to me and drugged me and now I'm here and I'm inside of somebody else and they'll come here too...'

'What? Who will come here?'

'The magicians! They always know where I am, what I'm doing...'

He suddenly felt weight on his chest and a hot breath on his sweaty cheek. His eyes shot open and he saw her dark hair and her shoulder as she leaned in and embraced him as tight as the straps and his position allowed. For a moment he wanted to fight, to throw her off and shout at her to get out, but in the end he couldn't do it.

'Don't worry, love' she whispered into his ear after his tightened muscles relaxed. 'I won't let them come to you. You are safe here.'

He didn't really notice when he slipped out of consciousness, exhausted both physically and mentally.

* * *

'Did you do the Physics homework, Hitomi?' 

She snapped out of her thoughts with a jerk. 'What? Oh! Yes... yes, I did.'

'Is something wrong?' Yukari asked, leaning over to her worriedly. Hitomi looked at her blankly, before shaking her head.

'No, everything's fine.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes' she said firmly, though she felt everything but. In fact, it was the opposite that was true – she was most certainly not okay and school was the last place she wanted to be at the moment. Not that she could tell Yukari about it, of course.

They were having a break between English and Physics and the entire homeroom was in an uproar, people exchanging their thoughts about the little pop-quiz they'd had just minutes ago. Hitomi's mind, though, was miles away.

'Why didn't he tell me earlier?' she thought ruefully. 'Was he afraid that I wouldn't welcome him?'

She lay her head on the desk and closed her eyes. The whole situation was overwhelming her and she desperately needed someone to talk to about it, but there was no one who would understand her. Her parents were out of the question, Mamoru, her younger brother, even more so, and Yukari, the best friend she'd had since childhood... No, that wasn't a good idea as well. Yukari had her own problems at the moment, much more important than Hitomi's. She couldn't burden her friend with her crazy life. She'd promised herself that two years ago and she wasn't going to change her mind now.

And her life, one of a kind to begin with, had recently become a complete mess.

Two years ago she went to Gaea. Despite its many dangers, she fell in love with the world and its people and since coming back to Earth longed to return. She didn't realize this until she lost the link with Van, but if she had the choice, she would spend the rest of her life on Gaea.

And Van... Van was something else entirely. It had taken her some time to understand that their connection wasn't a crush or a fleeting emotion and that, deep inside, she knew that there wasn't anyone else for her. It was a scary feeling for a teenager, no doubt, and she'd tried many times to persuade herself out of it. With no results, of course. She cried many times for her lost love, knowing that she would probably never see him again. So after their link was severed, she started preparing herself for a life of spinsterhood.

She knew that everyone around thought her childish and too caught up in her own world to notice the mechanics of life, but her visit to Gaea really changed her. She knew that she had to take responsibility for her actions and that sooner or later she would have to provide for herself. The decision to go to university was just one small step in the direction of getting a good job and becoming financially independent.

She had almost resigned herself to her fate when Van decided to enter her life once again.

It was like a dream come true, like a salvation. Her life wasn't devoid of magic anymore, that thrill of excitement was back and Van... Van was back also, and her love for him blossomed. Dreams of becoming his Queen and living happily ever after in Fanelia returned in full force. The reality of it was a bit less glorious, though. They danced around each other as if they didn't know what to do anymore, behaving like the blushing, awkward teenagers they were...

And now this. Something completely unexpected and unreal.

Van abandoned his throne.

The one he killed a dragon and fought a war for. The country and people he loved and who loved him in return, their wonderful young king. She'd seen him countless times, grieving for Fanelia and taking revenge on those who destroyed his land.

It was unbelievable that he would simply abdicate.

And yet she was certain he wasn't lying to her. But sure as hell his reasons were much greater than lack of friends. Why he wasn't telling her what it really was to push him to that decision she didn't know, but she intended to find out.

What really bothered her was the change she'd noticed in him since he came to Earth. He was different than she remembered, but she couldn't tell what it was that changed. It gnawed at her bit by bit, but she couldn't figure it out. He was much more bold and serious... but he'd always been bold and serious. Now that she thought about it, he'd always take much more on his shoulders than he was able to handle, which left him with no time to relax or have fun.

Maybe he was scared and didn't want to admit it. Whatever the reasons for leaving Gaea, his decision to stay on Earth seemed to be permanent. As much as she couldn't believe it, Hitomi could understand his fear of the unknown. She had felt it herself when she'd been on Gaea. Allen's proposal had scared her and made her realize that she might not be coming back home, after all. She shuddered to think how Van was feeling, knowing for certain that he had to start anew.

That's why she knew for certain that she was going to help him, though she didn't know exactly how, yet.

The bell rang, signalling the beginning of the Physics class and Hitomi made all the effort to focus. Now, even more than ever, her grades were really important.

* * *

The one hour train journey to Tokyo was passing for Yukari without much of an incident. The book she was trying to read was so boring that it nearly brought tears to her eyes, so she was left with nothing to do but stare at other passengers. Not wanting to appear weird, she focused her gaze on her intertwined fingers instead, her thoughts swirling around her head without order. 

She regretted that her father was in a hospital so far away from home, but she supposed that if they wanted him to have the best treatment the distance was inevitable. A dull ache tightened her insides as she thought about her father's condition and the possibility that he might never wake up from his coma. Even though Doctor Maeda assured them repeatedly that it was only a minor disorder, Yukari couldn't help but fear the worst. The atmosphere at the Uchida house didn't really help as it was as grave as if Kaoru Uchida was already dead. Yukari's mother didn't sleep at night, staring helplessly out the window, hot tears flowing down her cheeks. Yukari had spied on her a few times and once even tried to persuade her to lay down, but without success. It was like Leiko had lost all hope and was already grieving for her husband.

Yukari hastily blinked away the burning wetness behind her eyelids. Unlike her mother, she refused to believe that all was lost and still hoped for a swift recovery for her father. She knew that miracles did happen – she had the example of that albino, Dilandau, who not only woke up from a twelve-year long coma, but was in perfect health, too.

She absentmindedly rubbed her neck, where she still had a small bruise from when he'd threatened her with that ballpoint pen. She remembered the feeling of panic she'd experienced, but right now, when she was safe, she couldn't stop thinking about the boy in quite a different way.

She'd only really felt this way once before, when she was in love with Amano-senpai, but then it was much weaker than what was happening to her now. She definitely wouldn't call it love at first sight, but it certainly deserved the name of a particularly strong attraction. She'd seen and lusted after her share of handsome men, but this one exceeded all the others. His hair, his eyes, his silhouette and even the look on his face made her go all giddy inside. It was a feeling she couldn't supress, even if she tried – and, to be honest, she didn't make much of an effort to do that. Besides, what was the point of killing something that felt so good? She knew it would never go anywhere serious, so she could divulge herself in this sensation without feeling bad about it.

The train stopped at her destination, so she stood up and stepped onto the platform, pulling her jacket tighter around her frame. The wind was getting colder with each passing day and it seemed that the sunny autumn weather was coming to an end. Yukari didn't give it too much attention – she liked winter, so its upcoming arrival didn't bother her. Hitomi, on the other hand, hated snow and cold weather and prefered spring and summer to the other two seasons.

The thought about Hitomi reminded her of what happened yesterday at the pitch. Yukari could bet her right arm that the guy with black hair she'd seen was the same person who'd kidnapped Hitomi in that aircraft all those years ago. Hitomi's attitude about him was kind of weird, though – last time Yukari had seen them together, they were all over each other, blushing and hugging. And now? It looked as if they were arguing about something and it was Hitomi who was angry... She was a bit hurt that Hitomi didn't want to tell her anything about it, even though they had been best friends since junior school. This secret of hers was really mysterious and Yukari couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was about.

The bus ride to the hospital was as uneventful as the hour she'd spent on the train. It was a lot shorter than that, of course, but it was still a long way to go from Kamakura. Normally, she would go to the hospital by car with her mother, but she finished school before her mum was done with work, so it seemed natural that she would go earlier by herself. They were supposed to meet there, stay around a bit and then go back home together. Besides, Yukari had been to Tokyo a lot of times before and it wasn't really a problem for her.

When she finally reached her destination, the sun was already taking on a red hue and the day was on its way to completion. Tall towers of the city loomed above her, black against the greyish red sky. The hospital looked grave and imposing and she shivered a bit, wondering how awful it must be to live in this place day and night, alone and unsure of your own condition. She thought of Dilandau once more and a wave of pity washed through her, unbidden.

It took her another five minutes to get to the right department and when she finally arrived, she immediately bumped into that friendly nurse she'd seen a couple of times before.

'Oh, hello there!' the young woman exclaimed jovially. 'Here to see your father, right?'

'Yes' Yukari answered, smiling. 'How is he?'

'Very good, I'd say. Though he hasn't woken yet.'

Yukari sighed. 'I thought so... Tell me... Do you think he'll be all right? Doctor Maeda says he will, but I can't shake the feeling that he's just saying it to make me and my mother feel better.'

The nurse shook her head. 'Oh, I'm sure that's not true. I would trust Doctor Maeda with my life, you know.'

'Huh... I hope you're right...'

'Of course I am!' she said cheerfully. 'My name's Natsuki Watanabe, by the way.'

'Yukari Uchida, nice to meet you.'

They bowed to each other politely, and grinned. 'So' said Natsuki. 'How are you feeling after last time?'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, it's not everyday when you're mock-threatened by an albino hunk, is it?'

The redhead blushed almost immediately, feeling her heart flutter. 'Well, uh... I mean...'

'No need to hide it' said Natsuki conspiratiously. 'It's not a sin to be attracted to a bad boy once in a while. Too bad he's a bit unstable at the moment...'

Absorbed in her embarrasment, Yukari almost didn't catch what the other woman was saying. 'What? Unstable?'

'Yep. They're keeping him strapped to his bed. He's always trying to hit everyone. I wonder when he'll understand it's not the smartest thing to do... Anyway, I'm telling you all of this so that you can go visit him without fear of being captured again.'

Yukari blinked. 'What? Visit him?'

Natsuki nodded vigorously. 'Yes. Isn't it what you want?'

'Well, ye-...No, I couldn't possibly!' she managed, completely baffled. Her mind was having problems with catching up with her body, which had reacted to that incredibly impossible piece of information with intense heart fluttering and lack of oxygen. 'I mean, he tried to kill me! Why would I want to visit him?!'

The nurse was looking at her with an unnervingly smug expression. 'Dear, I saw you look at him yesterday. I may not have a university degree in psychology, but I'm not stupid, either.'

Yukari closed her mouth and stared. Was she that transparent? If a complete stranger could read her so well, what would her mother do when she found out? She used to be so careful with hiding her feelings, what has happened to her now?

'I'm sorry' she said, frowning. 'You must have been mistaken. I must be going now... Good day to you, Miss Watanabe.'

She bowed, turned on her heel and marched to her father's room. Once inside, she leaned on the closed door and exhaled. She was getting rusty with these things. Stupid albino freak, to make her loose control like that.

She looked over to the bed and saw her father, in the same position she'd left him the day before. Her annoyance evaporated and instead grief and fear gripped at her as she moved closer, to sit on one of the chairs provided for the visitors. Her father's skin was pale to the point of transparency and she could see small blue veins show on his temples. She ran her fingers along them gently, biting on her lip.

Her father was Yukari's favourite parent. She loved him with all of her heart, even though he was rarely home, spending most of his time running the company that brought him to his current state. Her mother worked also, as a secretary for some government figure, but it was her father who put the food on the table. Not one to take his responsibility lightly, he sacrificed his free time to earn more money, so that she and her mother could have everything they may want. Yukari respected him a great deal for what he did, unlike her mother, who always complained that he was absent all the time and loved his job more than his family.

She sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. She needed to take some rest, but there was a pile of homework she brought with her to complete. She couldn't do it at home since there she had to do the laundry and a couple of other minor house chores that had to be done and there was no one else to do them.

'No better time than now' she thought in resignation, pulled her textbooks from her bag and settled for work.

* * *

Hitomi found Van outside, sitting under a large tree with his arms wrapped around his knees. The sight immediatelly reminded her of another time, long ago, when she'd seen him like this, vulnerable and alone. She'd tried to rescue him then, but it was him who had done the rescuing after all. 'Would this time be any different?' she wondered. 

He must have heard her approach, because he raised his head and looked straight at her.

'Hi' she said, smiling. 'May I sit down?'

He waved his hand around. 'Of course.'

'Van' she said slowly after making herself comfortable against the trunk, but quickly found that she couldn't continue. Something gripped at her throat and her hands shook, so she clasped them together on her lap. She looked at him sideways; he was staring ahead at the playing children. Discouraged, she glanced back at her hands.

'I don't know how to say this...'

'Just tell me that you don't want to have anything to do with me' he snapped harshly. 'We both know that's what you want to say.'

Shocked into silence, she just stared. Van's expression hardened even more.

'So that's it, then?' he said quietly. 'Fine.'

Panic enveloped her when he started to stand up. 'Van! No! What are you - ?'

'I'm leaving. I'll be gone in a few minutes and you won't have to see me ever again.'

Not thinking about what she was doing, she reached out, caught his wrist and used all of her strenght to drag him back down. And then, with sheer dumb luck, she managed to press her lips to his.

You couldn't really call it a kiss, but Hitomi's heart almost jumped out of her chest. And judging by the look on Van's face when she finally pulled back, so did his.

They stared at each other in dumbstruck silence. It was Van who spoke first.

'But - ' he stammered. 'But I thought...'

'I'm sorry' she whispered. 'I'm sorry for everything... I didn't mean to... I just...'

'It's... It's all right.'

'No, it's not all right!' she could feel tears gathering behind her eyelids and she willed them away. 'I shouldn't have treated you like that. I don't know what came over me... Van... will you forgive me?'

He didn't answer for a moment, but when he finally did, she couldn't believe her ears.

'So you didn't want to... kiss me? Is that it?'

'What? No!'

'You shouldn't have done it then!' he said angrily and tried to free his hand, but Hitomi held him down.

'That's not it!' she cried. 'I was talking about yesterday!'

He froze and looked at her. 'What?'

'Van, I'm not sorry I kissed you. I'm sorry that you think I don't care about you... that I would leave you...'

'Hitomi...'

'I will not leave you' she said firmly. 'If staying on Earth is what you want, I will help you, though I really don't know how.'

She looked away from him, suddenly aware of what she was saying, of what she'd just done and of the fact that she was still holding his hand and their faces were almost touching. A few seconds passed and she suddenly felt his other hand trembling against her cheek. Her eyes snapped back to his and she was awestruck at what she saw. A mixture of wonder and happiness, all etched into a faint smile and small widening of his eyes.

She had no time to contemplate it further, for he leaned over and kissed her again.

* * *

Half an hour after she started on her homework, Yukari was already feeling tired and restless. The repetitive sounds of the hospital aparature made her skin crawl and her father's unmoving figure she saw every time she looked from her notebook did not help the matter. She felt like a caged animal. 

Needing to get out, she stood up, intent on going outside, somewhere far from here. Probably down to the cafeteria to buy herself something sweet to eat. Sweets always cheered her up.

The hall was empty when she went out and she was relieved to see that that wacko nurse was gone. Frowning, she remembered their earlier conversation.

Could she really just go in and... what? Visit? Him? No way. No matter how gorgeous and alluring he was, there was no way in hell she could go see him after what he'd done to her. Besides, it would be totally embarrassing, really. 'I mean, what normal person visits complete strangers?'

'What other way is there to meet new guys?' a whisper sounded at the back of her mind. Her mouth fell open at the thought.

'What! I did not just think that!'

'Come on. You are seventeen and a half and you've only been interested in one boy before. And you've never really been in love... ' the voice ignored her outburst. 'It's normal to want to meet guys you are attracted to.'

Yukari tightly closed her eyes. What was she thinking? It was completely stupid and she had to be out of her mind to even consider it. But she was indeed considering it, which could only mean one thing – she was going insane.

She took a deep breath and a couple of steps towards the hall exit. 'You need to act rationally, girl' she admonished herself. 'Fantasies are all well and good, but only if they stay in your mind.'

But the pull was too strong to be disregarded just like that.

'But it probably wouldn't hurt just to take a peek...'

'Stop it!' she yelled inwardly. 'I am not going to see him, and that's final.'

The voice shut up and Yukari, proud of herself, made her way downstairs to the cafeteria. Once there, she bought a sizable cheesecake slice and sat down at one of the round tables. The cafeteria was not a very inviting place, a bit too white and sterile to be considered a nice restaurant, but it was much better than the rest of the hospital. Apart from the patients and staff, there were normal people here, friends and family. She spied on a young man few tables away, her thoughts drifting without her noticing back to the albino.

'I wonder if he has many visitors... He's been out for twelve years, so he can't have any friends... How sad to miss so much of your own life... And your childhood, too. I bet his mum and dad are with him all the time, though. They're probably overjoyed that he woke up...'

Her musings were interrupted by a sudden screeching of chairs moving on the floor. She looked around and saw three people sit at the table right next to hers. One of them was Doctor Maeda, her father's healer, she noted with surprise. The middle-aged dark haired woman and the light-haired man she didn't know.

'You have to be patient, Mrs Yamashita' said the foreigner in faintly accented Japanese. 'This is a very complicated case and I must admit that I have never seen anything even remotely similar.'

'I understand, Doctor Stenson' said the woman quietly. 'But you also have to understand my position. I am a mother who lost her son twelve years ago. And now, when I can have him back, he's not himself. I just wish I could understand what is going on...'

Yukari's eyes were huge as she stared at her cake, trying to appear incospicious. They were talking about the albino! Even knowing that she should stop it, she couldn't fight her curiosity and shamelessly continued eavesdropping.

Doctor Stenson sighed. 'I'll try to explain everything that I managed to find out during our talk. You see, he told me the most peculiar thing. That before he woke up in the hospital he'd been in some kind of a war, fighting with his enemy. He called him 'the dragon', whatever that means. The enemy's name was Van. He's mentioned that name before, hasn't he?'

'Yes' said Doctor Maeda. 'He was screaming about killing this Van person when he first woke up.'

'Yes, yes, I thought so. This Van... He seems to be the aim of Dilandau's... oh, I'm sorry, I meant Keiji's, hatred. Keiji said something about a scar on his face, but then caught his cheek and remembered that he didn't have any, which was really peculiar.'

'About this scar' Doctor Maeda interrupted. 'One of the assistants told me that when Keiji saw himself in a mirror, he started to behave in a very strange way. First he screamed about this scar you were talking about and then seemed to be looking all over his body in search of others.'

'So he wasn't surprised by his appearance? Only by the lack of scars?' Doctor Stenson asked sharply.

'Well, from what Daisuke said he was only surprised by some things, not his overall appearance.'

'What does that mean?' asked Mrs Yamashita.

'As I see it' said Doctor Stenson seriously. 'He must have been dreaming in his coma. That's why now he has problems with telling what is real. I'm worried about the nature of his dreams... Tell me, Mrs Yamashita, did Keiji watch brutal movies before the accident? Or play some dangerous games?'

'Well... I don't think he did. But my family owns a kendo school and he often watched his father instruct students.'

' Yes...yes, that might be it.'

'But what about the scar?'

'It's actually really odd. I mean, how could he construct his real appearance in his dream when he'd only seen himself as a child? I'll ask him about it during our next meeting.'

Mrs Yamashita heaved a sigh. 'I'm really worried about him. I think he dreamed of something bad. He was really afraid of some 'magicians' when I talked to him today.'

'Magicians?' Doctor Stenson was clearly interested. 'What about them?'

'He said that they knew where he was and what he was doing and that they would come and drug him when he had someone's memories. A girl's, I think. It's all really confusing.'

There was a moment of silence. 'It makes sense, I think' said Doctor Stenson suddenly. 'He told me that when he was five he was imprisoned in a body of a five year old girl. And that right before he woke up his body started changing... The memories you are talking about must be hers. The magicians – the people he fears – must have had something to do with all of this.'

'The boy has a very vivid imagination, though, doesn't he?' remarked Doctor Maeda. 'Did you notice that he behaves exactly as if he were from another world? Daisuke told me that Keiji said something about a world called Gaea with more than one moon on the sky.'

Yukari couldn't help it - she gasped.

All three adults turned to look at her in surprise and she stared at them, her expression mirroring a deer caught in headlights.

'Miss Uchida?' asked Doctor Maeda in disbelief. 'Have you been eavesdropping?'

'I...' she stammered, red-faced. 'I'm really sorry... but I think I know who Van is.'

* * *

**A/N:** Here I am, back in the game! I've recently graduated from high school and I'm almost finished with my matura exams, so I might have more time and inspiration now to write more of the story... I've just realized that its pace is extremely slow and nothing is really happening O.o I mean, it's only been four days since Van came to Earth... Do you think I should speed up a bit? 

Regarding this chapter: Van and Hitomi finally kissed! I'm very nervous what you all think about it... I'm not very good at writing romantic situations, so I would be grateful about some feedback. Also, the plot thickens... xD What do you think about Yukari in this chapter? Completely unbelievable/nice?

One more thing – technically I have a beta reader now, but when I tried to contact her, she wasn't answering and with me being too impatient to wait and not wanting to make you wait any longer, I decided to post this chapter anyway. I hope she forgives me ;)

And lastly... I made an AMV to this story. For anyone interested, the link is in my bio, since it doesn't want to appear in this note xD

Again thank you for your reviews:D


	9. Chapter Eight

* * *

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

_By Kiki Smith_

* * *

Chapter Eight

Van couldn't believe what was happening. Hitomi was in his arms, comfortably snuggled next to him underneath the large tree that grew in the orphanage's backyard. His lips still tingled with the memory of their kisses and his cheeks felt warm from the blush that seemed to have settled on them permanently. Heart swelling with happiness, he tightened his grip on the sandy-haired girl.

She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.

'I wish we could stay like this forever' she whispered.

'Me too' he said, elated. 'But we can't.'

'I know... It's getting cold. We should probably go inside...'

'In a moment' he said quickly. 'Or do you want to go? Are you cold?'

She looked up at him and shook her head. 'No, I'm fine the way I am.'

He blushed again. 'All right.'

'Va-n' she spoke after a moment of silence. 'What are we going to do now? Do you have a plan?'

'I need to find some work and earn money' he said eventually. 'I'll need your help, though. I've no idea how you look for a job on the Mystic Moon... and what kind of a job I would be able to get...'

'You have to stop calling Earth like that' she said, laughing. 'This is your world now, and here we call it Earth.'

'Earth' he repeated. 'What a silly name.'

'Well, I didn't invent it' she responded, huffing childishly.

'All right, all right.'

'There is still the problem of the language...'

He smiled with relief. 'No, actually, it's not a problem anymore. I don't know how it happened, but yesterday the pendant started glowing... It seems that as long as I wear it, I'll understand Japanese just fine.'

'Really? That's great!' she hugged him tighter, grinning. 'I always knew that it was special.'

They sat together for a few moments, not saying anything, just enjoying each other's presence. There were too many things that needed to be talked about, however, for them to stay silent for much longer.

'I need to find a place to stay' Van said finally. 'I can't impose here anymore.'

'But you need to find a job first' she protested. 'I'm sure Mrs Nakamura won't mind letting you stay for a while...'

'Hitomi, I don't know how much time it will take to find a job and I can't just stay here without paying.'

She furrrowed her brow, thinking hard. 'You know... Mrs Nakamura always complains that she doesn't have anyone to help her with some repairs that need to be done around the house... Ever since her husband died some years ago and she got older she can't do a lot of things... I think the fence needs to be repaired... and the roof, too. And the garden is really neglected. You could earn your stay by helping her out.'

This seemed like a solution, of course if Mrs Nakamura agreed to it. He hadn't had much experience with this kind of work, but he supposed that he could learn. He doubted that any of the things he'd learned in Fanelia could be useful here.

'But how are we going to explain to her that you can speak Japanese now?'

'We'll tell the truth.'

'Van' she said quickly. 'You don't understand. You can't tell anyone that you are from Gaea.'

'Why?'

'I told you before... Nobody here believes in magic anymore... They would think you were insane and they would lock you up in an asylum.'

He pondered her words and came to a conclusion that she might be right. She knew much more about this world than he could ever dream of – she was a part of it, after all. He would just have to trust her on this.

'All right' he said slowly. 'Then we'll just have to lie.'

'But what are we supposed to say...?'

He smirked. 'Leave that to me. I have a great deal of experience when it comes to means of persuasion.'

'What?' she asked, dumbfounded.

'Well, I used to run a country, remember? It requires the ability to get your way using only well-placed words.'

She blinked at him owlishly and he laughed.

'Come on. The sooner we talk to her the better.'

She followed him into the house, still speechless.

* * *

The three adults stared at her with disbelief when she finished her tale. She had moved to sit at their table before she started talking and now clasped her shaking hands on its surface. She'd just told them all that she knew about the situation, which wasn't very much and she wasn't surprised when they didn't believe her.

'Miss Uchida, are you telling us that the world Keiji thinks he is from really exists? And that your friend has been there?' Doctor Maeda asked with a raised eyebrow. 'This is preposterous.'

'I'm sorry, sir.' Yukari said meekly. 'I told you that my knowledge about this is very small... Hitomi refuses to tell me anything about what happened two years ago. But I assure you that the boy I saw yesterday is the one that appeared out of nowhere on that flying thing. And his name is Van. I heard her call him that.'

'You are aware that what you are saying is really hard to believe?' asked Doctor Stenson.

'Yes, sir' she nodded. 'I can hardly believe it myself. But I think it's important.'

She looked at the albino's mother; she wasn't saying anything, but she was watching her intently, as if trying to read her mind. Yukari averted her gaze, staring at her joined fingers.

'I'll try to talk to Hitomi about this' she said. 'Maybe she knows Dilandau and would be able to give us some information.'

Doctor Maeda shook his head. 'Miss Uchida, I thought you were more sensible. But I must compliment your imagination. To create such an elaborate lie just to get out of being punished for eavesdropping.'

'I already apologised for that, sir' she said, chagrined. 'And I'm not lying. I could bring Hitomi here and...'

'Don't trouble yourself, child' said Doctor Stenson with a patronising smile. 'We'll manage just fine.'

'But' she said, but stopped herself, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment. 'Right... I'm sorry for interrupting... and for eavesdropping, too. I'll... I'll just go now, if you don't mind. Good bye.'

She scrambled to her feet, bowed deeply and almost ran from the cafeteria. How could she have been so stupid! Not only to eavesdrop on other people's conversation, but also interrupt them so rudely! And telling them about Hitomi! They must think her insane after all the stupid things she had said.

By the time she reached the lifts, she calmed down a bit and the embarrassed blush on her face slightly receded. She pushed the button and waited, frowning at the closed door.

The whole situation had been really informative, when one ignored her glaring _faux pas_. She was almost certain that she was right and Hitomi's disappearance, that guy from the flying dragon and this albino – Dilandau – were somehow connected. It still didn't make a lot of sense, but now Yukari was determined to make Hitomi talk. From her own experience, she now thought she understood why her friend had avoided the topic for so long, but this rift between the two of them was about to close – she was going to do everything in her might to force Hitomi to spill her little secret.

There was another problem, though. Before she could go to her friend, she had to be absolutely sure of what she was doing. She couldn't attack Hitomi only because of some unfounded suspicions.

That's why Dilandau would have to be visited, after all.

* * *

Kaede Nakamura sat at her desk, poring over a moutain of paperwork and pushing her reading glasses up her nose every couple of seconds. It was late afternoon already and the sky outside was dark, making it impossible to read without the light on. Kaede, conscious of the orphanage's tight budget, didn't like any kind of waste and the increased usage of electricity in the winter months seemed to her to be particularly cruel. This irritating fact tended to annoy her even more when she was doing the books.

Apart from electricity bills, the other media, food and the cook's salary, there was also the matter of clothes and toys for the children. There were thirteen of them in total – six girls and seven boys, their ages ranging from three to twelve. It was definitely a handful for a lonely older woman like her, so she had long ago applied to the government for some help. Two women came, one from six in the morning to two in the afternoon and the other at night, from ten to six. They rotated in their duties, lending her a much needed hand and allowing her to have her rest. Unfortunately, this meant even more bills, as the women didn't work for free.There used to be a third woman, coming in the afternoon, but since Kimiko's offer to volunteer Kaede had decided to forgo the government's help during this part of the day. And when Hitomi appeared it was even easier.

The thought of that girl reminded her of another problem. The boy, Van, no matter how nice and how much he meant to Hitomi, couldn't stay here forever. She didn't have enough money to support another person, yet a young man, who needed lots of food for his still growing body.

Kaede sighed. She hated to be ruthless, but she had to think about the other children as well. The boy had to go.

She rubbed at her tired eyes, taking off the glasses and laying them down on the sheets of paper splayed all over her desk. Sighing, she glanced at a photograph standing on a shelf above. Her late husband looked back at her, smiling warmly from under his fly-away greying hair. Locking her eyes with his, Kaede smiled as well.

It was a long time since he had passed away, and much longer since they had both founded this orphanage. It had been a precedence, for a young couple to admit so many foreign children under their roof. At first it had been really difficult, without any help from the government, but they had somehow managed. With Kin's income from his accountant job and the money she earned as a part-time seamstress, they had had enough to support four orphans as well as themselves.

Since Kin's death six years ago, Kaede had struggled to keep going, but the children needed her and that was enough motivation.

She glanced at his photo with fondness and then went back to her work, shaking off her maudlin thoughts. Ten minutes later, when the numbers had already started swimming before her eyes, a knock sounded on the door.

'Yes? What is it?' she called out, not bringing her eyes from the pages.

'Forgive us' said a pleasant male voice and Kaede whirled around in her chair, surprised. What she saw make her open her mouth. Hitomi and her boyfriend were standing in the doorway and it was him who spoke, in perfect Japanese. She raised her eyebrow.

'I thought you didn't know the language' she said suspiciously.

The boy bowed deeply at that, surprising both her and Hitomi. 'Please forgive us' he said, straightening, looking very confident, but extremely polite. 'Our situation forced us to lie to you. For that we are deeply sorry.' He bowed again.

Hitomi, momentarily frozen, snapped out of her shock and bowed as well. 'We are sorry, Mrs Nakamura' she said meekly.

Kaede blinked. Something smelled fishy here, but she was willing to ignore it. The boy was so charmingly polite that she could only answer in kind.

'So you are not from Europe, after all?'

'I am not' he answered somberly. 'I am from a place further away.'

'Where?'

'I apologise, but I cannot say.'

Kaede frowned. 'Are you a refugee?'

He averted his eyes for the first time during this peculiar conversation. 'Something of the kind.'

'All right' she said after a moment. 'I will not press you. I imagine that you didn't come here just to apologise, though.'

She caught Hitomi's fervent nod and her move to speak when the boy stopped her with a glance. Kaede was surprised to see the girl halt obediently.

'I am here to humbly ask for your help' he said in a way that was indeed humble, but underlayed with confidence. The boy behaved like well-mannered royalty, she mused with curiosity. 'I am aware that I ask much of you and that I might have already overstayed your welcome... Nonetheless I ask if it would be possible for me to stay here until I find a place to live.'

Having suspected something of the kind, Kaede closed her eyes and sighed. She would have to decline, though her heart hurt at the thought. She was about to answer, when the boy started speaking again.

'Of course I do not expect you to help me without any payment. As I do not have any money on me, all I can offer is the work of my hands.'

He bowed again and stayed that way for a moment. Kaede took a deep breath and thought. There were a lot of things around the house that needed the hand of a man, but this boy was barely that. She gave him a measuring look. He was rather tall and slim but the muscles in his arms were well-defined and he looked strong enough to help with heavy weights and other things that she, at fifty three, though still in good health, had a problem doing.

She could feel her heart melting away, but she couldn't very well let it show. That's why she schooled her face into a blank mask.

'Very well' she said finally. 'You may stay. You will have to earn it, however. There is enough work for you to be sufficiently occupied.'

'I thank you' he said before straightening from his bow. 'I do not know how to repay you.'

'There is one condition, though' she said, crossing her arms over her impressive bossom. 'You will not lie to me anymore. If you have a problem, tell me the truth and I will try to help, but I will not condone dishonesty in this house.'

He bowed again. 'I apologise. It will not happen again.'

'See that you do' she snapped. 'And now off with you. I have things to do.'

He nodded, took Hitomi's hand and practically dragged the shell-shocked girl outside. Once they were gone, Kaede allowed herself a smile. The boy was certainly interesting. There was something about him...

Glancing back at the books, she frowned. She would have to manage, she thought firmly. There was indeed a lot of work around the house and in the garden that needed to be done, so her decision to let him stay wasn't purely because of her weak side.

She shook her head. Lying to herself had never worked before.

Exasperated, she put her glasses on and turned back to the papers.

* * *

It was dark again in the room they kept him in, but Dilandau hardly cared. He felt empty inside, barely registering the pain in his body and the dull ache of an empty stomach. He couldn't sleep, not wanting to dream about the magicians anymore, but he wasn't exactly awake either. His thoughts drifted from one topic to the other, emotionlessly covering facts about his current situation. They didn't feed him again, instead sticking that plastic tube into his arm and saying that it was giving him whatever sustenance he needed. He didn't comment, but the growling of his midriff was yet another inconvenience he had to go through in this place. His mind hastily brushed away the thoughts of the attendant's help when he'd desperately needed to go to the privy. Doing these things while strapped to a bed had to be one of the worst things he'd ever done in his life.

He stared at the ceiling for a while, then closed his eyes. Images of that dark haired woman flashed behind his eyelids, and of that blasted toy, too. He wondered listlessly whether he would only see memories of Keiji when he saw something that had belonged to him. He had never seen anything of Celena's and had met her brother many times without anything happening to him, so there must have been another reason for the memories that came to him. Maybe this time it was different?

There was a knock on the door. It was weird, for no one had ever bothered knocking before and it brought him back to full awareness. Bemused, he called out.

'What the hell do you want?!'

'I want to talk' said an unfamiliar feminine voice. 'Can I come in?'

Dumbstruck, Dilandau didn't answer, raising his head from the pillow instead and staring incredulously at the door. The person on the other side must have taken his silence for a permission, because there was a creak and the door opened, letting in a smudge of light.

The redheaded girl from before was standing uncertainly in the doorway, squinting inside.

'Why are you sitting here in the dark?' she asked and reached out. The room immediatelly erupted in the pale artificial light Daisuke had explained to him came from something called 'electricity'.

'Oh my god' the girl breathed in shock. 'Those bastards! They tied you to the bed!'

He glared at her with half-closed eyes, still trying to adapt to the sudden brightness. 'What are you doing here? Didn't I scare you enough already?'

In response, she closed the door behind her and walked over to his bed. 'I have some questions for you' she answered simply.

'If you think I'll answer any of your questions, you are stupider than I thought' he sneered. 'What was your name again?'

'Yukari' she said calmly. 'And I'm not stupid. I'm trying to help you, so you should be smart enough to answer my questions.'

'Help me?' he asked, startled. 'How? Why would you want to help me, anyway?'

She looked lost for a moment. 'That's not important' she said eventually. 'Now tell me: are you really from Gaea?'

His mouth fell open and he stared at her in disbelief. What? How did she know about Gaea? What was going on, damnit?

Sensing something fishy, he closed his mouth and glared at her.

'Please tell me' she pleaded. 'I need to know.'

'Why?' he snarled. 'Why would you want to know anything about me? Everybody here thinks I'm somebody else, that I'm a freak – in fact, you told me that as well! Why should you change your mind now? Why would you believe me?'

She swallowed before answering. 'I told you, I want to help you. And I'm sorry... I believe you now. I just need to know for sure.'

He stared at her for several seconds, noticing for the first time that she was rather pretty, with big heavy-lidded brown eyes and long dark red hair falling around her regular features. Her clothes were strange, though. She wore dark blue trousers and a black shirt, things Dilandau normally associated with men. Yet, she still managed to be quite pleasing to the eye.

Pushing those thoughts away, he focused on the matter at hand. This crazy girl had the cheek to come here, demanding answers – what right did she have to speak to him, anyway? - telling him that she wanted to help.

'What do you need to know?' he asked finally.

'Does Gaea really exists' she said. 'And is that really where you come from.'

He watched her closely. She didn't seem to be hiding anything, but you could never be suspicious enough.

'Gaea exists all right' he drawled. 'But I'm not really sure that it's where I come from.'

She looked surprised. 'What? You don't know?'

He laughed angrily. 'As you can see' he made a circle with his head, trying to emphasize the situation. 'I no longer know what is happening to me' he sneered. 'And seeing as I can't remember anything before the time I was five, I can't say for certain that Gaea is really where I come from.'

The girl looked speechless and Dilandau watched her, gloating. Stupid little chit, pushing her nose into his business, where she sure didn't belong. She should go back to her mummy and keep away from big bad boys like him. Especially since he'd already threatened to kill her.

'Is that all?' he asked, his words etched with sarcasm.

'No' she answered firmly. 'How many moons are there on Gaea?'

'Two. The Moon and the Mystic Moon.'

She frowned. 'What is the Mystic Moon?'

'Here.'

'What?'

'What I said. Are you stupid? This is the Mystic Moon. And no, you can't see Gaea from here.'

'Ah.'

'Satisfied now?'

'Yes.'

Her answer startled him. 'What?'

'What I said' she mocked. 'Maybe it's you who is stupid.'

He grew angry. 'Don't you dare insult me!'

'Then you stop insulting _me_! Do you want me to help you or not?'

He opened his mouth to answer, but Doctor Maeda chose this exact moment to come into the room. He stopped in his tracks, with his hand still clutching the doorknob, staring and the girl, whose expression quickly became panicked.

'_Miss_ Uchida!' Maeda yelled in surprise. 'What is God's name are you doing here?!'

'Ah... I...'

'Please leave immediatelly! I will not allow you to sabotage my patient's recovery!'

'But...!'

'No buts! You are not Mr Yamashita's family, so you are not allowed to visit him. Now go. I believe your mother is looking for you.'

The girl bit her lip and glanced at Dilandau and, to his surprise, she seemed to be regretting the fact that she had to leave. Why, he couldn't understand.

And despite her meek expression, the look in her eyes told him that she would be back.

* * *

Next day it was raining really hard outside, but Hitomi's mood didn't reflect the ghastly weather – in fact, it seemed to contradict it. She was bubbly with happiness, a bit absent-minded and blushed constantly during class, remembering what had happened the day before under that large tree. And at the gate when she had to go home for the night. And what would surely happen once she finally reached the orphanage today after dinner.

She still couldn't believe that she had kissed Van. And that he had kissed her back. There were hordes of butterflies in her stomach whenever she thought about it, bursting with joy.

Everything had somewhat resolved itself. For the time being, at least. Van would work for Mrs Nakamura and would have a place to stay for now. It wasn't the perfect solution, but it was certainly a start. Hitomi, too happy at the moment to worry about the future, was willing to put those thoughts away and take care of them later.

Right now, though, she was huddled under an umbrella together with Yukari, trying to avoid puddles while walking from school to the train station.

'You seem very happy today' Yukari commented cheerfully.

'Oh?' she blushed. 'Really? I haven't noticed.'

Yukari nudged her playfully on her arm. 'Come on! Spill. Yesterday you were gloomy and now you are positively glowing. Something must have happened!'

'Nothing happened! Maybe I'm just having moodswings, eh?'

Yukari didn't answer for a moment. 'Hitomi? Is this... about Van?'

Hitomi stopped in her tracks and the rain started falling on her when Yukari continued walking, taking the umbrella with her. The redhead, surprised, turned back.

'How do you know about Van?' Hitomi asked, her green eyes wide. Yukari's face suddenly became blank. She walked over to her and covered her with the umbrella.

'How about we go to Kamakuraya's for a cheesecake?' she asked.

'What? Yukari!'

'We have to talk, Tomi' said the redhead firmly. 'You're not getting away today.'

'But...'

'No buts. Come on. I don't think this will be a quick conversation, so we really don't have any time to waste.'

Hitomi, not knowing what else was there to say, followed her best friend in the direction of the sweet shop.

* * *

With two glasses of juice and two pieces of cheesecake, Yukari and Hitomi settled at a secluded corner table, neither in a mood to eat. For several moments they were silent, neither of them knowing what to say. The first to speak was Yukari.

'Hitomi... Please tell me what happened two years ago. I know you are probably afraid that I won't believe you... But I will. I saw you disappear. I saw it and I believe it.'

Hitomi looked like a lost animal. 'I'm sorry, Kari... I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I was just...'

'Afraid?'

'Yes' she nodded. 'And I wanted it to be a secret... But it can't be a secret anymore' she laughed shakily. 'Van is staying, Yukari! He's not going back. He's staying and I won't have to be alone anymore...'

Yukari's breath caught in her chest when she saw Hitomi's serene expression. She had known that her best friend harbored some feelings for this strange guy, but she would never have imagined that they were so strong. She gently tried to get her back on track.

'But who is Van? Where is he from?'

Hitomi looked at her. 'It will sound really strange to you. That day... when you saw me disappear, it was a second time for me.'

'Yes, I thought so' Yukari nodded. 'You were so familiar with him...'

'No, you don't understand' Hitomi interrupted. 'I lived through that day twice. Do you remember how I collapsed during practice?'

'Yes' Yukari said slowly. What was she talking about?

'I had a vision. I saw Van, though I didn't know it was him at the time. He was standing right in my way and I couldn't stop and ran right through him. And then I saw a lot of other things, visions of fighting guymelefs, of Van and of Gaea.'

'But that was only a day before you disappeared!'

'I told you, I somehow lived through that day twice... Don't worry, I'll explain in a moment. The next day I went along with our plan and asked Amano-senpai to measure my time... But when I was running a pillar of light appeared in front of me and Van arrived through it. This time he was real and I ran right into him.'

Yukari frowned. 'But that's not what happened. He arrived on that flying...'

Hitomi shook her head. 'Yukari, listen to me. I lived through that day _twice_. I don't know why and how it happened, but it's true. You only remember the second time.'

'That's impossible!'

'Nothing is impossible' said Hitomi, laughing. 'Trust me.'

Yukari gave her a long look. 'Okay. I'll trust you... for now. So what happened next?'

'A dragon happened. He appeared out of nowhere and Van fought it and killed it. I saved his life then, for the first time of many. And just when I was crying and shouting at him for being an incosiderate prat, the pillar of light appeared again and took us away. To Gaea.'

'Can you really see the Earth from there?'

Hitomi looked at her sharply. 'How do you know that?'

'Ah... Susumu told me. He said that you were dreaming about a world where you could see the Earth and the Moon on the sky.'

'I wasn't dreaming. It was real.'

Yukari, seeing her friends sad face, reached out and held her hand. 'I know.'

'After we arrived we went to Fanelia' Hitomi continued. 'It's a beautiful country surrounded by woods and moutains. It turned out that Van was a prince... and killing the dragon was a ritual every prince had to complete before becoming a king.'

'He's a king?!' Yukari gasped, a little too loudly. Several heads turned in her direction, and she blushed with embarrassment.

'Not anymore. I told you, he's not coming back to Gaea.'

'But _why_?'

Hitomi sighed. 'I really don't know. He must have his reasons, though.'

'All right. So what happened next?'

'He was crowned, of course. And then Fanelia was attacked by invisible guymelefs – that's some kind of a weapon, I'd say an armor, but really, they are so big that I would call them human-shaped tanks. Gaea is a magical place. It looks just like middle ages, with swords, long dresses and royalty... But there are a lot of weird creatures there. For example Merle, Van's younger step-sister. She is a cat-girl.'

Yukari didn't think she understood well. 'She's a what?'

'A cat-girl' Hitomi laughed. 'A humanoid cat. With ears, whiskers, claws and a tail! And there are other people like that... I even saw a half-dolphin. It was really weird.'

'I bet' Yukari said faintly.

'So. Fanelia was destroyed and we had to run... We met a lot of people along the way... Friends who later helped us fight against Zaibach – that's the country that sent the invisible guymelefs. Its Emperor was originally from Earth, too. I think he was insane – he wanted to bring back the power of Atlantis, even if he knew that it was what destroyed it in the first place...'

'Wait' said Yukari quickly. 'What's this bit about Atlantis?'

Hitomi looked flustered. 'Well... It's like that. It seems that a long time ago Atlantis did exist and was inhabited by Draconians, people with wings. They had the power to turn their thoughts into reality... It destroyed them in the end, but before they died, they created a new, better world – Gaea.'

'People with wings?' Yukari asked with a raised eyebrow. 'Like angels?'

To her surprise, Hitomi was blushing. 'Well, er... something like that...'

'Have you seen one?'

Now Yukari was intrigued. Hitomi was red as a tomato and wasn't meeting her eyes. 'I... ah. Well, I had a vision of them, actually.'

'Really.'

'Yes, really. Now, back to the war. The Emperor, his name was Isaac, but everyone called him Dornkirk, was killed by Van's brother, Folken. And the fate-altering machine was destroyed by... er. You're going to think this very silly...'

'What?'

'You see, Van and I...'

'Fell in love' said Yukari matter-of-factly. 'Yes, I noticed.'

Hitomi was blushing furiously. 'Well, yes. But it was actually our... love... that managed to destroy the machine.'

'What? But why?'

'You see... we were both special. I was the girl from the Mystic Moon – that's Earth – and a Seer and Van was... Van was...'

'The Dragon?'

This time Hitomi was really surprised. 'How do you _know_ that!'

'I... er... well...'

'You are hiding something' said Hitomi slowly. Yukari had no choice but to admit defeat.

'Yes, but I will tell you everything once you are finished, don't worry.'

'All right' she said. 'About our love... I think it was because we were destined to be together, even though we were from two different worlds... And even though they tried to tear us apart. But, anyway. Everything ended well. We won the war and were able to return to Fanelia. Van took over his duties as king and began rebuilding... And I had to return home.'

'All right... but how did you do it? I mean, this pillar of light... what is it, exactly?'

Hitomi pondered the question for a moment. 'I think it's some kind of an energy... Do you remember my pendant? My grandmother gave it to me... but she got it from Leon Schezar when she was young and when she got transported to Gaea...'

'Your grandmother went to Gaea?'

'Yes, twice. But for a very short time. She met Allen-san's father... I think he fell in love with her... It's ironic, actually' she giggled suddenly.

'What is? And who's this Allen-san?'

Hitomi was still giggling. 'Allen Schezar is a Caeli Knight.'

'A knight? Wow, Hitomi! Who else did you meet there? Any princesses?'

'Two, actually. They were sisters. I met a duke, too, if you want to know. He was very nice and sweet.'

'How can a duke be sweet?'

'He can when he is five' said Hitomi, laughing, but quickly became somber. 'Duke Chid's father died in a battle with Zaibach when we were in Freid, their country.'

'But you were talking about something ironic.'

The blonde giggled again. 'Ah... You see, I had a crush on Allen-san. He is tall, with long blond hair and very handsome. And gallant, too. He reminded me of Amano-senpai a lot. And... well. I had my first kiss with him.'

Yukari's mouth fell open. 'But! But I thought you were in love with Van!'

Hitomi had the decency to look chagrined. 'Well, I didn't realise that until the very end... Besides, I told you that Zaibach tried to tear us apart, right? They used the fate-altering machine to make Allen-san kiss me. And later he... well, he proposed.'

'What!'

'I didn't accept, of course! I was only fifteen! Besides, not only was Millerna in love with him, but Duke Chid was his illegitimate son... Allen-san wasn't such a spotless gallant knight, after all.'

'Whoa... quite the soap opera, eh?'

Hitomi snorted. 'Exactly!'

'Okay.. but we are getting side-tracked. How did you go back, anyway?'

'My pendant turned out to be one of the Draconian pendants from Atlantis. I think it was made from a drag-energist – it's the heart of a dragon and a Gaean source of energy, like electricity. When Van killed the dragon in the temple next to school, he took one from it and used it to awaken Escaflowne – that's his guymelef. And when he was sending me away, he created the pillar of light with it.'

'So you came back and relived the same day?'

'No... it was the time when I appeared late and lied to you about not being there at all.'

'I don't understand.'

'You see, towards the end, when they were all fighting, I couldn't take it anymore... I felt wretched and wanted to go home. And so I went. The pillar returned me to Japan and I woke back in the infirmary with Amano-senpai. Then I relived those two days, realised that it was you who was in love with Amano-senpai, not me' she shook her head here. 'And then realised that I missed Van and that I had to go with the plan again, to try and come back. You saw what happened then.'

Yukari nodded, finally understanding. 'So the flying thing was a guymelef?'

'Yes. In its dragon form. Escaflowne could change from humanoid to dragon. It was a special guymelef, actually.'

Hitomi took a sip of her juice before looking at her sharply. 'I think it's time you told me what you're hiding.'

Yukari bit her lip, wondering what was the best way to approach this, but finally decided that bluntness and honesty was the best option.

'Hitomi' she said slowly. 'Do you know someone named Dilandau?'

Her friend's expression told her that she did.

* * *

**A/N:** Hurray, another chapter finished in record time! A special treat for my readers on the occassion of finally finishing my matura exams and starting my holidays :D This chapter is a bit talked through – I mean, all the characters do is talk. It had to be done, especially with the Yukari/Hitomi conversation, as it is important for the story that you know what is said, and not merely know that Yukari finally found out about Gaea. She has very little information, only an outline of what happened, doesn't know that Van is a Draconian... Some things need to stay a secret, right:P I just hope you weren't too bored with it... I certainly wasn't – writing the 'finding about Gaea' part and the 'Oh my God Dilandau's on Earth' part that follows it was a lot of fun and I just couldn't stop xD

Thanks for the reviews :) You're the best!


	10. Chapter Nine

* * *

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

_By Kiki Smith_

* * *

Chapter Nine

Hitomi's mind was blank for a long moment before the reality of the situation finally reached her. Had her friend really asked her about... Dilandau?!

'How do you know him?' she asked, feeling breathless.

Yukari's expression was grim. 'So you know who he is.'

'Yes' she uttered with difficulty. 'Of course I know... But how do _you_ know?'

'Hitomi... Dilandau is at my father's hospital.'

The blonde couldn't believe her ears. For several seconds her common sense battled with her hearing, in the end coming to the only sensible conclusion – Yukari's mind had been messed up with.

'Yukari' she said. 'This is impossible. Dilandau doesn't exist anymore. He was just an experiment... The magicians from Zaibach created him using the fate-altering machine when they were experimenting on Celena, Allen-san's younger sister. But when we destroyed the machine Celena went back to normal... No, it's really impossible. I don't know where did you get his name from, but...'

'He told me' Yukari interrupted and her face was unnaturally fierce. 'I talked to him, Hitomi! He's real. He woke up from a coma and everybody thinks he's Keiji Yamashita and that Gaea is only his dream... I'm the only one who believes him!'

'Yukari' Hitomi pleaded, her voice shaking. 'Dilandau is dead!'

The redhead looked even more determined. 'Who is he? Tell me.'

Hitomi gripped the table. 'He was a Zaibach soldier. An officer. Dilandau Albatou and his Dragon Slayers... It was them who destroyed Fanelia. I can't count how many times he tried to kill us... Van scarred his face once and he wanted revenge...'

'Yes! The scar. That's the weird part – Hitomi, he doesn't have any scars. And everybody thinks he's Keiji Yamashita, though his appearance didn't change. He's an albino... with red eyes.'

Hitomi stared at her friend in disbelief. 'Yukari... And he said his name is Dilandau Albatou?'

She nodded. 'Yes. And he mentioned Van, too.'

The time slowed and Hitomi's heart missed a beat. 'What...?'

'Yes, that's how I connected you to him, actually. I heard you call Van by his name yesterday, you know.'

Hitomi wasn't listening, falling headfirst into her thoughts instead. Her mind was working overdrive and the possibility that Yukari might be telling the truth finally dawned on her. If what she was hearing was true, it meant that Dilandau Albatou, the psychopatic dangerous villain, had managed to find them. And that meant they weren't safe. Van wasn't safe. Cold fear swept over her.

It wasn't that she thought Van couldn't defeat Dilandau – he had proved that he could be an excellent warrior when the circumstances called for it (and when they didn't, too, if she wanted to be honest with herself), but he didn't have Escaflowne with him here and he was alone. Allen-san was on Gaea and unable to help if it came to the worst and she was useless when it came to fighting. If they ever met, it would be a one-on-one fight and one of them would die at the end of it. And seeing as Dilandau was not only unpredictable, but also fueled by his hatred and need for revenge, he was likely to have the upper hand.

'Yukari' she whispred, her voice shaking. 'What did he say? Does he know where we are?'

The redhead frowned. 'I don't think so. He only mentioned Van's name to the psychiatrist, Doctor Stenson. As far as I know, he only said that he was fighting with him when his body started changing and then he woke up in the hospital.'

A tsunami of relief washed through Hitomi and she slumped in her chair, reaching out for her juice. 'Yes' she said, sighing. 'He was fighting Van. It was the final battle in the war... And he did change into Celena while still in his guymelef. Allen-san had to fight Van to protect her, because Van still thought she was Dilandau.'

Yukari frowned. 'This is really confusing. How could he change into a girl? And what happened to him then?'

'I told you. The magicians from Zaibach had kidnapped Celena, Allen-san's sister, and experimented with the fate-altering machine on her. I don't really know how, but they managed to use her body to create another human being... I think this is why Dilandau is so messed up.'

'Messed up? He didn't seem all that bad to me... Just really angry and confused.'

Hitomi took a deep breath and took Yukari's hand. 'Yukari, he is a cold-blooded murderer. Please stay away from him.'

Her friend opened her mouth and stared at her in disbelief. 'Murderer...?'

'_Yes' _Hitomi said urgently. 'Don't trust him. Don't even talk to him! He's not only a murderer, but a psychopath! I think the magicians made him this way, but this doesn't change that he's dangerous!'

Yukari didn't answer immediatelly. She looked pale and was frowning as if thinking about something.

'But it doesn't make any sense' she said finally. 'To me he seems afraid and confused.'

'Yukari... Promise me you won't go to him.'

'I...' she hesitated. 'I can't do that. I already promised him that I would help him...'

'Yukari...'

The brown-eyed girl shook her head. 'I can promise you I'll be careful, but that's all.'

Hitomi closed her eyes. Knowing her friend, this was as far as it would go – Yukari was too stubborn for her own good. What she wanted to know was why she chose this particular subject to be stubborn about.

'Why are you doing this, Yukari?'

She didn't answer, ducking her head and hiding her eyes behind her fringe. Hitomi looked closely at her, but she couldn't tell what was going through her head.

'I have my own reasons' she said eventually. 'I hope you will let me have my secret. Just like I let you have yours for all those years.'

Hitomi blinked. 'That's not the same! Yukari, Dilandau is dangerous! I'm just worried about you!'

She was surprised to see her friend glare at her angrily. 'And I was worried about you too! I thought something bad happened to you! You were suddenly so changed and you didn't want to tell me what happened and you just shut me out! Damn it, Hitomi, don't be a hypocrite!'

She was speechless for a moment. 'I...I'm really sorry...'

'Then let me have my own secret now' said Yukari firmly. 'I'll tell you one day, but for now it's my own business, all right?'

'All right' she agreed, defeated.

'Good. And now I think we should be getting back. It's really late.'

They ate the rest of their cheesecakes, gulped down their juice and headed home.

* * *

A drop of rain fell from the hood of Van's vivid yellow coat and on top of his nose. He wiped at it angrily and glared at the offending sky.

Apparently there had been a hole in the orphanage's roof for nearly four months now, but there had been no one to fix it, so Mrs Nakamura closed the upstairs room that had been affected and put basins underneath the leak whenever it rained. This, of course, wasn't a comfortable situation, therefore when a chance to change it arrived, the old matron jumped on it without thinking. To her credit, she had told him he could take care of the leak _after_ it stopped raining, but he had been so desperate to prove that she hadn't made a mistake in letting him stay that he insisted on doing it right away.

And here he was, soaked, as the so called „water-proof" coat he got from Mrs Nakamura didn't really work, tired and confused as hell, sitting on the roof and vainly trying to figure out how to fix the problem in front of him.

Fanelia was a rural country and its royal family had never felt the need for strict codes of how to behave – there were no stupid rules to follow and a minimal list of things that didn't 'become' a prince. Still, he supposed, even though he had been free to play with other children – not that he did all that often, though – and was a step-brother to a cat-girl, he had led a pretty sheltered life. As a young boy he received thorough education – he learned about both science and literature – and Vargas taught him sword-fighting, but he was too inexperienced to take a big part in ruling the country. His princely duties were few and far between, even though he was the last member of the royal family. He spent most of his days outdoors, wandering the grounds and woods, brooding about his fate and preparing for the day when he would have to kill a dragon.

No one had ever thought it important to teach him how to actually work with your hands.

Taking care of Escaflowne had been fun and not actual work, as it was connected with fighting and war, so perfectly in character for a young king.

Fixing a leaking roof, on the other hand, went far beyond the duties of a king.

'An ex-king' he reminded himself with exasperation. 'You're one of the people now, idiot, this is your life now.'

He held up a roof-tile and squinted at it through the raindrops. How the hell was he supposed to stick it between the others to cover the hole, he had no idea. The tiles lined up in a fixed pattern and if he wanted to insert one in the middle of it, he had to re-do an entire row. Removing the damaged tile had been relatively easy... but now he really drew a blank.

'Damn it' he growled under his breath. 'Way to go, Van, way to go.'

He looked closely at the tiles around the hole and ran a hand along their edges. He could feel long dents that perfectly matched the protuberances on the tile he held in his lap.

Frowning in disbelief, he put the tile over the hole, pushed it under the others and heard a click.

He sat for a moment, feeling another drop trailing down his cheek.

And then promptly burst out laughing.

'Are you all right?' Mrs Nakamura asked, leaning out the window on his left. 'Oh, you're finished! That's wonderful. Now come down before you catch a cold.'

Still chuckling, Van gathered his tools and climbed back into the house. The temperature in the room was as low as the one outside and the mug of hot coffee Mrs Nakamura held out for him felt like heaven.

'Now get out of these wet clothes' she said while closing the window. 'Because I've got another job for you...'

He looked at her expectantly.

'You'll clear out this room and move your things up here... You're a lot older than the other children and you really shouldn't be sleeping in the same room as the boys' she gave him a look. 'So, since you fixed the roof, I have a perfectly good room for you to use... Well, that's if you don't mind the ruined ceiling.'

He looked up at the dark wet stains and bits of plaster dangling off above his head and grimaced.

Mrs Nakamura raised her eyebrows. 'I guess you'll have to live with it for now.'

'I guess you're right' he muttered, before turning to face her. 'Thank you, Madam, for taking me in.'

Her expression was impassive. 'You have your uses, boy' she said, before clapping him on the back and moving towards the door. 'I advise you to start right now if you want to sleep here tonight.'

She left and Van turned to look around. It was a complete mess – random furniture and boxes lay about in every corner and were covered in a thick layer of dust.

Mrs Nakamura was right – if he wanted to sleep here tonight, he'd have to start immediatelly.

He changed into dry clothes, finished his coffee and went to work. It took him the next three hours to turn the room into a place that was barely livable. It would have to do for now, though, as he was so tired he couldn't even move a hair.

He managed to gather enough strenght to go downstairs and bring all of his things into his new room. While sorting out his belongings he noticed a middle-sized brown package and remembered the night before he left Gaea.

'It's Celena's present' he thought in wonder and set to unwrap it. Inside he found a small but beautiful drawing of a Fanelian landscape. His chest tightened as he traced the lines of the picture with his fingers. On the other side of the drawing there was a message from Celena:

_So that in your voyages you never forget where you came from._

'Thank you' he thought heartfully. 'I will not forget.'

He set the drawing on a nightstand that stood next to his new bed and looked back into the box.

What he saw made him do a double-take. There was a stack of papers with diagrams, drawings and neat handwriting, but none of what was written there made any sense to him. When he saw the Zaibach crest on one of them he realised these had to be the documents Allen had told him about some time ago.

The documents concerning Celena.

And Dilandau.

With rising alarm, he tore open the yellowy envelope addressed to him and set to read the letter it contained.

By the end of the letter his hands were shaking and all he saw was red.

* * *

Sanako Yamashita looked at herself in the mirror. Limp, shoulder-lenght black hair, dark, blodshot eyes and deep lines on her forehead and between her eyebrows indicated that she was somewhere in her late forties, when in fact her fortieth birthday was still three months away. Her tired face, neglected appearance and dull, cheap clothes spoke of a life that hadn't been spoiling her and of hardships that she had had to overcome. Ever since the accident twelve years ago, which was the cause of Keiji's coma, she had had to deal with a withdrawing, grieving husband, self-blaming daughter and her own depression. Many fights, almost tearing the family apart, a constant tension in the household and the ever-growing amount of money spent on medical treatment were the reason why Sanako looked the way she did.

Yet for all of those years her hope had never wavered. She never ceased to believe that her only son would wake up and live a normal life some day. She closed her eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay while remembering that frightening moment of almost three years ago when Natsuo had tentatively mentioned the idea of switching off the life-sustaining aparature.

Those had been the two darkest weeks of her life.

She opened her eyes and looked back at her reflection. The hospital restroom was clean, bare and, most important of all, empty. She could, for a moment, allow herself to show emotion, to let her face picture the grief inside her heart. It was so ugly a sight that she turned her head away.

Taking a deep steadying breath, she runmaged through her handbag in search of a tissue. She dabbed her tears off her cheeks, sniffled and gritted her teeth, trying to control herself. No, it wasn't a good idea to cry in front of him again.

When she first heard of Keiji's miraculous awakening, she had been elated. But after that violent incident she no longer knew what to think. Natsuo was still recovering, wincing from time to time because of the purple bruises covering his stomach and back. She was more concerned with his injured pride, though. She could barely understand how a man – a father – could feel after being overpowered by his own son.

The son that had supposedly been in a coma for twelve years and couldn't have know how to fight, as his mind shouldn't have aged a day.

Sanako frowned. The dreaming explanation of Keiji's state favoured by the doctors was quite sensible, but in her opinion lacked credibility. He couldn't have, even if he had the wildest imagination, morphed his personality from that of a five-year old into that of a teenager. Even if he seemed unstable and at times slightly... _insane_, her mind whispered. During the few talks she'd had with him she became certain that she was speaking with a mature young man, not a child.

That, and his surprising ability to fight, made her think that he might just be telling the truth and this teenage boy was not, in fact, her son at all.

Then who was it? And was it even possible that another person had... what? Possessed her son's body? Maybe it was some wandering soul, not ready to pass to the other side? She'd never been really religious, but her mind wasn't exactly adverse to things one couldn't rationally explain. Seeing her son in a coma while there was nothing wrong with him had always been a mystery no one could solve. Perhaps it was finally coming to an end. Maybe Keiji had been destined to have that accident. Maybe his body was destined to be a safe place for another soul. For Dilandau.

Sanako pressed her temples with her fingers. Her head was pounding and she still hadn't visited him and there were long hours before she could go to sleep.

She'd have to find this red-haired girl and talk to her. As much as the story about another world seemed unbelievable, she didn't want to disregard it. Everything that could shine some light onto this case was valuable to her.

Having made the decision, she looked into the mirror for the last time, gathered her things and went out into the hall. She figured that asking either Doctor Maeda or Doctor Stenson would be definitely counter-productive so she began her search by talking to the nurses. She went to their room and knocked politely.

'Mrs Yamashita?' asked the head nurse, putting her coffee mug away. 'Can I help you?'

'Yes. I am looking for a girl... Her name's Uchida and she has red hair. I think Doctor Maeda knows her... Have you seen her anywhere?'

The head nurse was about to decline when one of the younger ones, a twenty-something with a round, friendly face, spoke up.

'Her father is in the room next to your son's, Mrs Yamashita. I think she might be there with her mother right now.'

'Oh' said Sanako, slightly bewildered that finding the girl had been so easy. 'Thank you very much.'

She nodded goodbye and went straight to Mr Uchida's room. She paused before knocking, feeling just a bit silly for clinging to stupid paranormal fantasies like that, but when she heard the girl's voice tell her to come in, she did so without hesitance.

'Good afternoon' she said upon entering, smiling slightly. The girl and her mother, a well-dressed pretty middle-aged woman, were sitting by Mr Uchida's bed, his wife holding onto his hand, his daughter scribling in a school notebook.

'I, uh...' she said, feeling quite awkward. 'My name is Sanako Yamashita... My son is in the room next door...'

The woman's eyes widened and Sanako saw a murderous expression cross her face. 'You...! You _dare_ to come here, after what your... your _son_ has done to my daughter!'

To say that she was taken aback would be a huge understatement. She blinked owlishly at Mrs Uchida, trying in vain to remember what Keiji – _Dilandau_ – might have done that she didn't know about.

Miss Uchida came to her rescue. 'Mum! Stop it! It's not her fault and it's nothing to get so angry about...'

'Angry?! I'm not angry! I'm furious! That _boy_ threatened you! Are you telling me it's not serious?!'

Sanako's jaw almost dropped in shock. What?

Miss Uchida sighed. 'Mum, it was a ballpoint pen. He was bluffing and he didn't hurt me at all, so please calm down.' She turned to look quizzically at Sanako. 'Mrs Yamashita? Why are you here?'

She was snapped out of her surprise. 'What? Oh! I, well, I wanted to talk to you about what you said yesterday...'

Miss Uchida's eyes gleamed with a strange light. 'All right. Would you mind waiting for me in the cafeteria, Ma'am?'

Sanako shook her head, watching bemusedly as Mrs Uchida's gaze drifted from her to her daughter in a confused fashion. She made to go and before she left she heard the beginning of an argument.

'What is going on? You aren't planning on going, are you?'

'Mum...!'

She closed the door and their voices toned down to a dull mumble. Sighing, she made her way down to the cafeteria, where she ordered a cup of coffee – black – and waited.

It took Miss Uchida ten minutes to reach her.

'I'm so sorry' she said. 'My mum's is a bit worried about me and doesn't like to be left in the dark...'

'Why didn't you tell her, then?'

The girl grimaced. 'Because it's not something she will believe.'

'And you think I will believe it?' asked Sanako, feeling tired and not quite sure that what she was doing wasn't the result of her headache.

Miss Uchida gave her a pointed look. 'You already believed me, didn't you? You wouldn't be here otherwise, right?'

Sanako rubbed at her temples again. 'I'm not really sure... I just think that Doctor Maeda's theory has some flaws... And when it comes to Keiji I'm open to all kinds of explanations. You know that he has been in a coma for twelve years, yet no one could tell why?'

'Really?'

'Of course he had an accident, but there was no lasting damage, no changes, absolutely nothing that would cause prolonged sleep. His body was developing as it would have if he were awake, there was no emaciation, nothing. And when he did wake up, he almost didn't feel any discomfort at all. No problems with movement... He acts and speaks like a young man, not a five year old. His dreams couldn't have been so detailed!'

Miss Uchida was nodding. 'That's because he lived through those years somewhere else.'

Sanako's head snapped towards the girl. 'What?'

'I talked to Hitomi yesterday' she said as an explanation. And then she launched into a very long story about a world with two moons, about dragons, humanoid tanks, royalty, angels, fate and war. Sanako listened to her with wide eyes, all the time trying to believe her and keep herself from believing. The tale was so glorious, so impossible, yet so _fascinating_... When she was finished, Sanako didn't really know what to say.

Finally she managed to form a couple of words. 'What... all of that... has to do with my son?'

Miss Uchida became pensive. 'This is the weirdest part, you see... Hitomi knew Dilandau when she was on Gaea. Apparently he was a high-class soldier in Zaibach and an experiment of some magicians... He talked about them, didn't he?'

'Yes...' Sanako muttered, staring.

'Hitomi said that those magicians kidnapped children and used them as guinea pigs to experiment with the fate-altering machine. One of them, a five year old girl named Celena was changed into Dilandau.'

Sanako blinked. 'What?'

'They used her to create another person. They changed her gender and named the boy they created Dilandau Albatou. And then they trained him to be a soldier.'

'That... is that even _possible_?'

Miss Uchida shrugged. 'I don't know... But Hitomi was sure about it. She said that during the final battle he changed back into Celena and hasn't appeared since.'

'How does she know that?'

'Because Van is on Earth right now' answered Miss Uchida calmly.

'Van...? The boy that...?'

'Yes, the one that gave Dilandau that scar. Well, the one that seems to be missing.'

Sanako buried her face in her hands. 'I don't understand this! Why did Dilandau wake up in my son's body? And where _is_ my son?!'

She glanced at the girl, but her face was blank. 'I don't know' she admitted softly. 'I'm trying to figure it out, but it all seems impossible, doesn't it?'

They were silent for a moment, both thinking. Miss Uchida was the first to speak.

'Maybe' she whispered, eyes wide. 'Maybe Dilandau's spirit disconnected with Celena's body during that fight and was floating about, without anchor... And Van's journey created a channel between our worlds and Dilandau's spirit slipped in somehow? And then entered the closest body that he could?'

Sanako could feel tears gathering in her eyes. 'Does that mean... that my son is... dead?'

Miss Uchida gasped. 'No! No, I didn't say that!'

'But why would Dilandau enter a body that already had a spirit? Wouldn't he choose one that was empty?'

'Well, uh... but Celena...'

'But that was different, wasn't it!? They had forced him into her body! What if he couldn't have done that by himself?' she was quickly becoming hysterical. 'My son must have been dead since the accident! We were just kidding ourselves, keeping his body alive...'

She broke down, sobs wracking her tired body, her earlier headache paling in comparison to the pain she felt in her heart. Twelve years... and it had all been for nothing! She would never get her son back... Her family would be torn apart even more than it was already...

She felt a sure grip on her hands and she cried harder for what she had lost.

* * *

When Hitomi came to see Van later that day, she was unprepared for the deer-caught-in-headlights expression on his face. Blinking in confusion at his tight grip on her arm she allowed him to drag her into what appeared to be his own, personal room. She had no time to ask about it, for Van sat her down on his new bed and pushed a stack of yellow parchment into her hands. Bewildered, she started reading.

And as she read everything suddenly became crystal clear.

This was the letter Celena had slipped into Van's farewell present. She had seen it in a dream, which must have been a vision, after all. Or, rather, a memory, as it were. Why would her psychic powers suddenly return in full force, she did not know, but this was proof enough.

But this was immaterial. Much more important were the contents of said letter – and they shone a lot of light on what she had heard from Yukari two hours earlier.

Dilandau Albatou was really on Earth.

She looked at Van with a frightened expression, her mind working in overdrive. Van's face was grim.

'I thought I was free of him forever' he hissed angrily. 'I thought he was gone for good.'

She was silent, watching in trepidation as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

'And I _helped_ him return!' he snarled, no longer bothering to keep his voice quiet. 'And _she_ wants me to go and _help_ him adjust to his new life!'

She was about to say something – anything – but caught herself. Van didn't appear to want a conversation right now, he needed to vent his frustration and get rid of his anger. Therefore she stayed quiet, listening and thinking.

'The bastard destroyed my homeland! He and his band of psychopaths killed my people! _My people_! And Vargas, too! And _she_...! She _expects _me to... How could she... I thought she was a _friend_...'

Not knowing what else was there to do, Hitomi moved closer to him and put her arms around his tense frame. He was shaking with anger so great that she feared she would not be able to stop him if it came to the worst.

Which it of course promptly did.

'I'm going to kill him!' he snarled suddenly. 'He's going to die! At my hands!'

He shot to his feet and it took all of Hitomi's strenght to keep him from dashing to the door. Her insides were clenched with a mixture of fear and grief, but she somehow managed to wrestle him back on the bed and stand in his way.

'Van, stop it!' she cried fiercely. 'You have to calm down!'

'Get out of my way, Hitomi!' he snapped in her face. 'This doesn't concern you! This is a matter for men...!'

He didn't get to finish his sentence, for her hand connected with his face in a violent snap. He reeled back, falling on the bed and gawking at her.

'This doesn't concern me...!' she nearly screamed. 'How does this not concern me, Van! You were just about go out there and get yourself killed...! And you don't even know where he is, he could be half a world away and you need never meet each other... Please stop being stupid... I don't want you to go and do something foolish... Not when I just got you back...'

She burst into tears, both from imagining what may happen if he were to actually meet Dilandau and from the guilt she felt at having lied to him. Dilandau was an hour train ride away, in easy reach and, from what Yukari said, confined to a hospital room and quite vulnerable. If Van ever found out about his whereabouts he would probably try to do something stupid... something irreversable...

Having him kill another person was even worse than being killed.

And she couldn't let that happen.

'I love you' she said in desperation. 'Please listen to me...'

His eyes were so round and big that for one silly moment she thought they might pop out of his face. It took her a long, embarrassing moment to realise what she had just blurted out and she immediatelly felt her cheeks heat up with mortification.

The silence that stretched over the room was deafening.

'I...' he said eventually. 'Hitomi, I...'

And then he stood up, crossed the distance between them and crushed her to his chest. He was shaking again, but this time it wasn't because of anger.

They stood like that, awkwardly hugging, until her tears subsided.

'I'm sorry' he whispered raggedly. 'I was just...'

'I know' she said quickly, pulling even closer. 'I'm sorry I slapped you.'

He gave a short laugh. 'Don't worry, I probably deserved it.'

'Yes, you did' she said teasingly. 'What was this about men and their matters, huh?'

He pulled back and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. 'I don't know what you mean.'

'You...!' she sputtered, laughing.

Any disappointment she might have felt because of not hearing those words back from him was squashed as Mrs Nakamura knocked on the door and called them to help with the children.

Later that night, when he wasn't watching, she went to his room and nicked Celena's letter from his bag.

* * *

At first she dreamed about pink ribbons tying her arms and legs and finally strangling her, then her subconscious showed her images of Van's face under a large tree, its leaves moving with the wind. She turned to the other side with a sigh.

She dreamed of clearings full of daisies and sunflowers and the scent of mint. Then she dreamed of wind ruffling her hair and of Van standing behind her, his hands on her waist and the sight of two orbs gleaming on the starry sky.

And then the dream changed.

Images of pale flesh on pale flesh, a flash of a breast, a muscular arm caressing it with brutal love, looking like the embodiment of an oxymoron. Sighs and moans, lots of red and lots of steam.

She groaned in her sleep and the dream turned pleasant once again.

* * *

**A/N: **Here goes the next chapter! A bit of angst, humour – at least I hope you found it funny xD – and some mystery thrown in for good measure. We're slowly getting to the point when some answers will finally be revealed, but for now I leave you with even more questions :) I hope you enjoyed it. And if you did... please leave reviews:D 


	11. Chapter Ten

* * *

**Visions of the Mystic Moon**

_By Kiki Smith_

Chapter Ten

* * *

'Tell me more about Gaea' Doctor Stenson said, looking at him pleasantly. 

Dilandau stared back in silence. The fair-haired man quirked his eyebrows.

'Why are you apprehensive?' he asked. 'You can trust me, Dilandau.'

That was the precise question, Dilandau thought grimly. The only person he'd ever trusted was Emperor Dornkirk and _that_ had been a mistake, it seemed. The idea that he would trust this strange man, who clearly didn't believe him and thought him to be insane, was really laughable.

But being outright hostile would gain him nothing, he realized. It would be better to play along for a while, let them think that he was reforming, that he was believing their incredulous tales. So that they would let him go from this blasted place and leave him alone.

'I don't remember much' he said eventually. 'It's all blurry...'

Stenson regarded him for a moment, before writing something in his notebook. 'Is that so? Then please tell me everything that you remember.'

Dilandau wanted to glare at him, but he forced himself to keep an impassionate expression. He really didn't want to end up tied to the bed again and he knew that resistance would only lead him in that direction. Instead of launching himself at the doctor for his disbelieving tone, he remained in his chair, looking at his hands.

'It was a different world from here' he said in a bored voice. 'I could see the Moon and the Earth' he remembered to use this idiot term rather than call this place what he used to on Gaea - to maintain his illusion. 'There was a war. I was a soldier – a high-ranked one – on one of the sides.'

'Aren't you too young to be an officer?' Stenson asked suddenly. Dilandau momentarily forgot himself and lost his temper.

'It's not a matter of age, but of skill!' he snarled.

'I see' said Stenson calmly, though he obviously didn't. 'Go on. What was the purpose of that war?'

Dilandau forced himself to cool down.

'My country, Zaibach, lies in unforgiving land' he said sourly. 'The soil does not provide us with enough crops to feed our people. Therefore Emperor Dornkirk, having turned Zaibach from poverty to technological power, wanted to gain land for his people.'

He was surprised to see Stenson nod thoughtfully. 'It seems that Gaea has not moved from the feudal era' he remarked.

'What?'

'Oh, sorry' he grinned. 'You obviously haven't learned any history, so can't possibly know... You see, some few hundred years ago people on Earth were like people on your Gaea...There were kings and emperors and the most valuable thing a man could have was land.'

Dilandau shook his head. 'The most valuable things are energists' he said matter-of-factly.

'Energists?' Stenson asked, curious. 'What are those?'

Dilandau belatedly realized that the doctor had made him forget his initial purpose and manipulated him. He gritted his teeth, but knew he would have to answer.

'Hearts of dragons. We use them to get energy to run aircrafts and guymelefs.'

'Interesting' said Stenson, his eyebrows raised. 'Actually, it's really fascinating. Could you tell me more about those guymelefs?'

Dilandau barely stifled his rising anger. 'Well' he began, faking uncertainity. 'I remember I piloted one, but it feels like a dream now... The memories of Gaea are becoming more and more distant.'

Stenson looked at him for a long while before smiling. 'All right. I won't pressure you to remember then.'

Inside, Dilandau smirked triumphantly, but outsied he gave the man a grateful nod. 'Thank you.'

Their session carried on for another half hour before Daisuke came to escort him back to his room.

* * *

Soft music flew around the room as Yukari stared at the mobile phone in her hand. Hitomi had just called her to ask if she could come by because she had something important to tell her. And then hanged up without saying anything else. 

Bemused, Yukari put the phone away and turned the volume up on her CD recorder. A familiar L'Arc-en-Ciel song filled her ears and she smiled, feeling content and relaxed.

She was lying on her small, one-person bed filled with her collection of colourful cushions, carefully arranged so that they created a comfortable nest. The rest of the room was similarly stuffed with things – the pale yellow walls were barely visible from underneath the myriad of posters. Members of Glay, Dir en Grey, X and L'Arc-en-Ciel to name a few stared at her with their heavily made-up eyes, the last thing she saw when she went to sleep and the first when she woke up. The dark wooden furniture barely held all of her books – most of them foreign classics – and her single and favourite manga – _Hana Yori Dango_ by Yoko Kamio, which she had been collecting for nearly three years now. Doumyoji, the main male character, was her absolute favourite and she had a picture of him stuck to the wall just above her desk.

Tsukasa Doumyoji was the ultimate bad-boy. He was tall and handsome in a somewhat unconventional way – his hair was really weird - he was unbelievably rich and had so much influence that he controlled the entire school without any effort. Together with three of his childhood friends he formed a group called the F4, which terrorised the students. He was cruel and arrogant, had a flaming temper and thought everybody was below him – but there was something about him that drew the heroine, Tsukushi Makino, and made her fall in love with him. Maybe it was the little-boy complex, or the strenght of his feelings for her, or his surprising moral codex and the way he followed it without deviation.

Yukari didn't know what it was that made her like him so much, but she never forgot that he was just a fictional character and real-life bad-boys were probably people she should avoid rather than fall for. She'd followed this rule her entire life. Up till now.

Well, she couldn't really say that she was in love. Or even infatuated for that matter. She was, however, very much drawn and attracted to the very person she knew she shouldn't. If she wanted to trust Hitomi's words – and they seemed quite probable – Dilandau Albatou was not your typical bad-boy. He went way beyond bullying, rock-listening, hair-dyeing or even shop-lifting.

She wasn't sure that he could even be compared to Doumyoji.

But knowing this didn't help matters at all. Everytime she saw him her heart fluttered madly in her chest and the sight of his face, hair and posture always made her want to stare. She liked this feeling of excitement and giddiness his presence caused in her. She hadn't felt this way since Amano-senpai two years ago and she wasn't about to let it go. It was a beautiful thing to be cherished, not discarded.

To hell with consequences.

A doorbell rang. Yukari shot to her feet and ran down the stairs to let Hitomi in. Her best friend's hair was dishelved, as if she'd been running.

'Come in' Yukari said with a smile.

'I hope I'm not interrupting anything' Hitomi muttered apologetically.

'Don't worry. Mum's asleep upstairs, so we have to be quiet, but other than that you know that you're always welcome.'

Hitomi grinned. 'Thanks.'

They went to Yukari's room and the redhead closed the door carefully. 'Now' she said, turning to Hitomi. 'What is it?'

The blonde looked at her for a moment, then sat down on the bed, took out a yellow envelope out of her bag and gave it to her.

Yukari took it, a bit bewildered, and glanced inside. It was a piece of parchment with something in a weird language written on it in black ink.

'What's this?' she asked, giving it back to Hitomi.

'It's a letter to Van' she answered grimly. 'From Celena.'

It took her a second to comprehend. 'Celena? You mean, Allen's sister? That girl who turned into Dilandau?'

Hitomi nodded.

'Well, what does it say?' Yukari asked impatiently. 'You can read it, right?'

'I can' Hitomi said before unfolding the letter and reading it out loud.

When she finished, the only sound in the room was another j-rock song.

'Good Lord' said Yukari after a moment. 'Does that mean that he really...'

'Yes.'

'And Mrs Yamashita's son...' she trailed off, suddenly struck by a thought. 'I've got to give it to him. He has the right to know.'

Hitomi sighed. 'I know... That's why I stole it from Van and brought it to you. I know he must know... but I'm worried that when he does he'll try to find Van...'

'He'll know that Van's on Earth when he reads it' Yukari realized. 'But he can't go out of the hospital at the moment – they're guarding him...'

'But he won't be there forever, will he?' Hitomi pressed. 'You can't tell him where you got the letter. If he doesn't know where to look, he'll never find him. Where do the Yamashitas live?'

Yukari bit her lip. 'I don't know... Probably somewhere in Tokyo. I'd have to ask...'

'So there's a chance they'll never see each other. Of course if you stop going to him.'

Yukari felt a sharp pang in her belly, but she didn't show it to Hitomi. 'Right.'

'Good' said Hitomi. 'I've got to go... My dad's been nagging me about how I'm never home anymore... I can't even begin to wonder how I'm ever going to tell him about Van...'

'Hitomi?'

'Yes?'

'Are you happy with him?'

Hitomi suddenly looked shy. 'You mean with Van? I... I am in love with him' she said with a grin. 'I think he loves me too... And when he's not around all I do is think about him...'

Yukari grinned. 'That's love, all right, you silly airhead.'

'I resent that!'

Yukari laughed along with her best friend, but deep down she couldn't shake the feeling of dread at the thought that one day that warm, excited fluttering would be gone, along with Dilandau.

* * *

Kaede Nakamura was normally a light sleeper. The smallest of noises had her wide awake within seconds – a trait particularly useful when one cared for little children. This, unfortunately, meant that she woke up at least three or four times during the night and couldn't remember when she'd last slept six hours in a row. 

The thing that woke her on Thursday, though, was not the crying of a child or a normal sound of the house. There was someone outside.

A bit panicked, Kaede shot out of bed and, glancing at her clock – it read six minutes past three – carefully went to the window. Barely moving the curtain, she looked outside.

What she saw made her stare. A strange white light was coming from the backyard, in the shape of... Of wings.

She blinked, trying to clear her sleepy eyes, but when she looked again, it had disappeared.

Bemused, she went back to sleep.

* * *

'Van? Can you come here for a second?' 

He jerked, startled by the sudden yell and looked up. Mrs Nakamura was standing several meters away, her back to him and her eyes fixed on something on the ground. Frowning, he stood up from where he'd been kneeling and went over to her.

'Yes? What is it?'

She didn't answer, pointing at the ground instead. He followed her gaze and audibly gasped.

The grass was covered with feathers.

His feathers.

'This is really odd' came Mrs Nakamura's voice, as if through a haze. 'What kind of a bird would leave such beautiful feathers?'

She crouched and picked one of them, a particularly pretty flight-feather, and twirled it in her hand.

'Maybe a goose?' she asked, turning to him. 'What do you think?'

'A... A goose?' he stammered.

'Yes' Mrs Nakamura nodded, her expression bewildered. 'I've never seen a goose in this neighbourhood, though... Most extraordinary...'

He could only nod dumbly, hoping she wouldn't notice his strange behaviour.

'You know, I swear I saw something last night' she remarked conversationally. 'Something woke me up, you know. I wake up quite easily. Remember that, in case you'd like to sneak around the house at night' she shot him a meaningful glance. 'Anyway. I woke up and I swear that I saw something with big white wings right over here. It must have left the feathers... But it was way too big to be a goose...'

All of the blood must have flown out of his face. 'Maybe' he ventured tentatively. 'Maybe sleepiness made you exaggerate its size, Madam?'

She turned to him sharply. 'Are you saying that I imagined it?'

He held up his hands. 'Of course not, I was merely...'

'No matter' she cut him off. 'Now, go grab a rake and clear it up. Even if they're pretty, I don't want them lying around.'

She went towards the group of playing children, all the time twirling his feather between the forefinger and thumb of her right hand.

Van watched her go, both relieved and mortified. When he'd gone out flying last night to get rid of his stress and the bad energy that had been gnawing at him ever since he read Celena's letter, he never realized that someone might see him.

He had to be more careful with what he did. People discovering that he was a Draconian here had different implications than on Gaea. Yes, he'd be feared and probably called a demon, but on Gaea they at least knew he existed. Here on the Mystic Moon, according to Hitomi, people had never seen sentient beings other than humans.

And to be seen by Mrs Nakamura! It was a good thing she was uncertain at what it was exactly that she'd seen, but it was sheer luck that his little escapade didn't result in graver consequences than clearing up his own mess.

He quickly found a rake and started on his job. The feathers, glistening with dew and blindingly white against the dark green, red and mouldy brown of fallen leaves, were everywhere. From a logical point of view, there shouldn't be so many of them here, because if he lost them all in one night he wouldn't have any left. His wings, however, defied the laws of logic. Technically, they weren't even his own flesh, per say. They were rather a manifestation of his heritage, some kind of a magical imprint of his ancestors' power. He operated them with the use of his will, not his muscles and even though they appeared corporal they could vanish into nothingness. Losing feathers was the one thing he'd never mastered completely. They fell out on their own and there were new ones immediatelly growing in the vacant places. His personal theory of this phenomenon was that since he was only a half-Draconian, the amount of magic in his blood was not enough to keep the feathers from falling. Folken had the same problem, but their mother, to his knowledge, had never lost a single one of hers.

Sighing, he gathered them up in a pile, together with the leaves. Then he returned to what he'd been doing before – which meant fixing the fence. There were several other things Mrs Nakamura gave him to do during the morning and he would be busy until Hitomi came after her school.

Hitomi. A warm feeling spread over his mind. Hitomi, the girl who loved him.

He spent the entire day with a goofy grin, attracting Mrs Nakamura's attention, though the old woman didn't ask him about it.

When Hitomi came, before they could disappear to spend some time alone, Mrs Nakamura ordered them to do the laundry. Glancing at each other in amusement, they complied.

After half an hour of working either chatting about their respective days or in companionable silence, Hitomi asked him a question.

'Van?'

'Yes?' he looked at her, his arms elbow deep in water.

She was staring at her hands and seemed nervous. 'You know, I've been meaning to ask you... It's been really bothering me...'

He straightened, a bit worried. 'What is it?'

She suddenly looked him in the eyes. 'Why did we stop seeing each other whenever we wanted? I tried and tried, but you never appeared.'

His heart fell and it didn't stop until it reached the ground.

* * *

'How was your session, Frank?' 

Doctor Frank Stenson ran a hand through his blond hair before stuffing it into his pocket.

'The little bugger's gotten smart' he said with a smirk. 'He tried to make me think he was forgetting about his hallucinations.'

Doctor Maeda quirked his eyebrows. 'Really? I didn't think he had it in him'

'Well, he's quite an intelligent psycho' Frank laughed. 'Though hardly a gifted actor.'

'What's your diagnosis, then?'

'Schizophrenia, what else?' he shrugged. 'The boy's got it real hard. He told me they used dragon hearts as sources of energy. Great imagination... He'd be a brilliant fantasy writer.'

Maeda chuckled with appreciaction. 'What about the girl?'

'Oh, her' Frank shook his head in dismissal. 'She's making it all up. Probably to gain attention. Certainly nothing to worry about. About Mr Yamashita, though...'

'Yes?'

'I'd like to have him moved to a mental clinic. He needs constant supervision. I have a feeling that if he got his hands on a sword, he'd try using it and get hurt in the process.'

'You know his parents don't have the money to send him to your place, don't you?'

Frank sighed. 'Too bad. He'd have to do with a public facility... From what he'd told me it'll still be better than what he's used to. This Gaea world of his sounds awfully medieval.'

They laughed as they walked, unaware that their conversation hadn't been exactly private.

* * *

Yukari stared after the two men in utter disbelief. Bits of their conversation circled around her head like hawks. Was it really possible to...? To send Dilandau to an asylum? 

The thought seemed both preposterous and far too probable.

She hadn't planned on eavesdropping, really. Well, maybe this was not entirely true, as she had immediatelly followed Doctors Maeda and Stenson when she'd noticed them talking, even though she'd seen them only by chance. She had been innocently – well, not so much, actually, considering her destination – walking down a corridor and they had just happened by, not even bothering to lower their voices.

What she heard made her stomach clench.

She wondered why it had never occured to her that they might think he needed psychiatric treatment. He certainly met all of the requirements of an asylum patient.

She should have realized that they were keeping him in the hospital for far too long for someone who was completely healthy. Observation period notwithstanding.

Something had to be done. She'd have to call Mrs Yamashita and tell her both about the letter and about the Doctors' conspiracy and the two of them would have to think of something to prevent it from happening. After all he'd been through, Dilandau deserved peace, and not at a mental clinic.

But first, she had to give the letter to him. She had no idea how he would react to its contents and, to be completely honest, she was a bit afraid. She didn't know what to expect of him. Would he blow up in a fit of rage? Would he attack her as the bearer of bad news? Would he stay silent? Or would he do something completely different? How could she know? She'd only talked to him twice.

She felt embarrassed at obsessing over a guy she barely even knew.

The journey to his room was uneventful. Fortunately she didn't encounter either of the Doctors and slipped into the room unnoticed.

He was standing with his back to the door, staring out the window. The lights were out.

When she entered, he turned around, his hand immediatelly travelling to grasp a sword that wasn't there.

'Oh, it's _you_' he spat, glaring. 'How about knocking?'

There it was. The fluttering that shouldn't be there. Not when he was regarding her as if she was a being classified barely above a bug.

'Sorry' she mumbled, momentarily distracted, before gathering her wits. 'Why are you sitting in the dark?'

'Because I _like_ it, obviously. What do you want?' he asked when she switched on the lamp.

'I brought you something.'

His eyebrows travelled upwards. 'You_ brought_ me something? Well, what is it?'

She bristled, indignant. 'Something important, you arsehole.'

'What did you just call me?' he hissed.

She laughed. 'What, do you have problems with your hearing? I called you a hole in the arse, which you are, by the way. You should be thanking me for going all the way to bring it to you.'

'You - !'

He walked over to her and she felt a bit frightened. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bait him this way. Just when he was about to say something else, she fished for the letter from her bag.

'Here' she said. 'I think you will find this very interesting.'

He frowned. 'What is it?'

'A letter' she answered impatiently. 'It'll probably answer a lot of your questions.'

'Questions?' he drawled. 'Who is it from, anyway?'

She looked at him for a moment before delivering the bomb.

'It's from Celena.'

Just as she'd expected, his facial features went through a complete change from slightly bored to extremely shocked.

She reached out, handing him the envelope.

And when he took the parchment from her and looked at it, she watched his eyes move along the words and read the message she had already memorized.

* * *

_Dear Van,_

_If you are reading this, you are already there, in that strange world that overlooks ours and shines so mysteriously... I almost envy you... To be able to see it all, to see that place of secrets and mysteries... _

_I am sorry, for I have allowed myself to be poetic, and this is certainly not the place nor time. This letter is not a mere well-wishing message, telling you that I shall miss you and wish you all the best on your journey. No, this letter has a far more important mission._

_I hope you like your farewell present, but I am certain that you are curious about those documents I enclosed in the box. You see, this is the documentation of my life, so to speak, and the life of another, a person that has been entwined with my destiny for nearly ten years. _

_Yes, I believe you know of whom I speak._

_When I had been kidnapped by Zaibach soldiers, I had been terrified. Even more so when they gave me to the magicians – those men were the vilest creatures I had ever met at that point, and, to be honest, they still are. The experiment went quickly – they had already practiced on other children and were sure of what they were doing. In one frightening moment I was pushed deep into my subconscious and another person was put in my place. I was no longer in control of my body – I could not move, speak or feel, but I was still _there_. I was aware of the boy's presence, but he didn't feel me. I could hear his thoughts, see and hear what was happening outside... But I could not communicate. I tried in vain, I cried and screamed, but he never heard me. But I heard him. _

_And he was frightened, scared of where he was and missed his family. His name was Keiji and he was from the Mystic Moon, the place where you are now._

_The magicians gave him a new name and a new life. They trained him mercilessly until he forgot who he was before and became Dilandau, the ruthless, evil Dragon Slayer, their star soldier. I witnessed the change, the building of a high stone wall dividing his consciousness from the memories and his real self. But the wall had cracks and I, the only one that knew him, knew it would crumble one day, and Dilandau would merge with Keiji and create a whole being. _

_There were times when I managed to get through, but he then was pushed aside, I do not know where, probably to the same place that I occupied when the magicians used the fate-altering machine to squash me. He had memories of me when I was five, but nothing else. No awareness of my being there, in the same body as he. _

_Then I pushed through one last time and there were no magicians to right it, so I finally stayed in command of my body and he... he was trapped in mine like I used to. I thought I would live with him forever in my subconsciousness. _

_But then Zaibach was destroyed and the magicians taken to prison... I was able to obtain the documentary that had been done concerning our 'experiment'. You can see for yourself, but I will make a summary here, including my own observations. _

_The magicians could not create a spirit out of nothing – it was against the nature. They had to steal one from another person. Their twisted minds would not be satisfied with a random spirit, so they searched carefully for the perfect candidate. I do not know how they managed to do that, but they found him. Keiji Yamashita, aged five, a little boy from the Mystic Moon, an albino, different from his family and other children, an intelligent boy with a powerful mind. So they used the fate-altering machine to orchestrate an accident and stole his spirit, leaving his body in a coma-like state there, on the Mystic Moon. And then bound his spirit to my own. They used a stone, a blood-red ruby, to symbollise his eyes, as the carrier of the bond. Once the ruby was destroyed, our spirits would disconnect and his would return to his body. Provided that there was enough energy between our two worlds to let him through. Otherwise he would just float about, unaware and ghost-like. _

_I suspect you already know what happened. I found the documents a year ago and since then have been waiting for the best moment to release him. I wouldn't condemn him to the life of a constant ghost, that is why I chose to wait. Your journey to the Mystic Moon should provide the necessary energy and I shall destroy the ruby right before you go. If I am right, then his spirit should return to his body at once. And I hope that is the case with all my heart. _

_I am writing to you about all of this because I have a favour to ask of you. I know you had been enemies, but I ask that you put that aside and find him. Give him this letter and help him adjust if it is necessary. I beg of you. He has been a part of me for so many years and I have come to love him, yet I cannot help him anymore. _

_I hope you are not too angry with me for asking this... But I cannot do nothing. _

_I wish you all the best in your new life. Please give my greetings to Hitomi. And if we are not destined to meet again, farewell. _

_Your friend, _

_Celena Schezar_

* * *

**A/N: **Chapter Ten! Finally :D And so many questions answered, too! So Dilly really _is_ Keiji, after all. I hope you like my explanation :)) 

Concerning Yukari and her interests – seeing as _Vision of Escaflowne _the anime was broadcasted in 1997, the action of this story of mine should be placed, accordingly, in 1999. This means that all of the mentioned jrock bands had already existed for quite some time before that. This is also true for the manga_ Hana Yori Dango_, which started in 1992 and finally ended (with 36 volumes and an extra) in 2003. In 1999, Yukari would have been after seeing the anime series, which had been broadcasted in 1996. ::waves to fellow HYD lovers:D

One last thing – I always wondered why Van lost so many of his feathers, so I came up with this silly explanation xD

I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, please leave reviews:D

Love ya,

Kiki Smith


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